


Men are from Teufort, Women are from Teufort

by Oddport



Series: MaftWaft [1]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Action/Adventure, Dimension Travel, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor, M/M, Robots, Romance, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 12:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 51,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5164409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oddport/pseuds/Oddport
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Engineer makes a last ditch effort to save her team from being destroyed by the robotic army of Gray Mann, the women of Teufort wake up in a place that looks surprisingly like home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She hadn’t even heard the bombs coming. All she recalled was the sudden impact before she was thrown into space, her vision stricken to white from the blast. The wind was knocked out of her as she landed, the weight of her Medi-Gun crushing down on her as she tumbled down the hill, crashing through a rotted fence before finally coming to rest in the retention ditch under the old bridge that linked the RED and BLU compounds.

Out of pure reflex she gasped, trying to get air back into her lungs; inadvertantly pulling some of the foul wastewater in instead. She gagged, coughing and spitting until she finally heaved the last of it back out, and tried to drag herself back onto semi-dry land.

“Doktor!”

Her body was lifted by a pair of strong arms, pulled close to a chest that thankfully still held a beating Über-enhanced heart within.

“Doktor, please, you okay?”

A blurry face started coming into focus. Worried blue eyes, mouth set in a thin line, wisps of chestnut brown hair loose from the red headscarf that framed her lover’s features.

“Sasha?”

“Inge, I did not protect you…” Heavy pulled Medic closer, her large body warming Medic’s damp one; strong arms trembling as they held the smaller woman. 

Her own arms were battered and, she was starting to suspect, starting to bruise. But she reached out, the thick rubber of her red gloves insulating her from Sasha’s comforting warmth. “Sasha, I’m fine, I’m fine.” The words wheezed out. “Just, if you would be so kind, please hit the reset on the Medi-Gun.”

Heavy nodded and reached around to the reset switch on the side of the jury rigged device. It was as battered as its owner, scuffed and scortched from months of fighting. As the switch was thrown, it sputtered and sparked before finally settling into a rickety hum. Picking Medic up, Heavy waded into the ditch, obscuring them from sight under the covered bridge. Heavy’s hand pressed Medic’s head to her chest as they waited for the faint stream of red mist to heal the injuries that they had both sustained.

The horizon in front of them was lit in fire and explosions. 

Neither of them had thought that this would be the way things would end. It was always going to be RED versus BLU. Fighting, dying and respawning. They had talked about the end of their contracts and how they would retire after this last tour. 

And then Gray Mann had come with his army of robots and the world had gone to hell.

Since then, so many had died. Respawn was a thing of the past, and RED and BLU had no choice but to come together simply to survive. Life had become so much more precious, and so much more fragile.

Earlier that morning the mercenaries had made a preemptive strike against the robots. The town of Teufort had been taken the day before, and they had hoped to get in before the mechanical monsters were too far entrenched. But things had gone horribly wrong when they found that the encroaching force was made of giant robots, rather than Gray’s standard models. A barrage of Demo- and Heavy-bots had scattered the team, and now they were desperately trying to get back to the rendezvous point.

After a few minutes feeling was starting to come back to Medic’s extremities and, as much as she would have loved to linger in Heavy’s arms, the fire in the sky was only getting closer. 

“We should go.”

“Da.” 

They moved through the water, heading towards the opening to the sewer system that ran under what used to be the BLU side of the compound. Their footsteps were almost unbearably loud as they walked through the arched halls. As they were about to turn a corner, Heavy paused and signaled Medic to stay behind her. A short way down the pipes came another set of footsteps.

The sound of metal on metal.

And they were coming fast.

“Scout-bot.” Heavy pulled out her shotgun, wishing that she had Misha with her instead. But the minigun was sitting back at base, having been deemed too large for a covert mission. Medic’s gloves clinched over the Medi-Gun’s nozzle, prepping Heavy with an overheal. 

“Hey, is someone keeping track of my heads batted in?”

The electronic voice echoed down the ducts, the words crackling and buzzing, causing the two humans to wince.

Quick footsteps approached a bend in the waterway and Heavy swung around, unloading two shots into the robot’s chest. The small robot flew back, its insides arcing with electricity as its limbs twitched. 

“You… knuckleheads… ain’t… *zzzzzt* ain’t… even...”   
Heavy reloaded and slowly walked toward the ruined machine.

**BLAM! BLAM!**

Medic crept forward to look down the mechanical remains. She placed a nervous hand on Heavy’s arm. “It made it past the perimeter.” Heavy just nodded in response. 

They had to move. Where there was one robot, there would be others.

After the gunshots there was no need for stealth. The two women ran as fast as they could towards the rendezvous point. Behind them, more metallic footfalls. Medic looked over her shoulder; the Scout-bot had just been the first. 

“There are more!” Medic yelled. Heavy growled. The shotgun worked against one robot, but she needed Misha for more than that. The swarm of Scout-bots gained ground quickly. Both women were tired, injured and couldn’t outrun a scout on their best day. 

“Behind me!” Heavy suddenly spun around, pushing Medic ahead of her and shielding her from the robotic onslaught. The shotgun rang out, taking off one of the robot’s heads before being flipped around, its stock slamming into the next. The Medi-Gun flared on as Medic dodged around baseball bats and scatter shots. Metal hands grabbed at the mercenaries, pulling them down. Medic’s bonesaw tried to find weak joints as Heavy resorted to sheer blunt force trauma, crushing heads together like tin cans.

The Scout-bot swarm kept coming. 

**BLAM!**

A robot dropped.

**BLAM!**

Down went another.

**BLAM!**

Medic scrambled to her feet, catching up Heavy’s shotgun where it had fallen and smashing it against the nearest robot, allowing the larger woman to free her hands.

**BLAM!**

“Get moving! I’ve got ya covered!”

BLU Sniper stood on the platform that led out of the sewers and into the compound. She extracted the spent cartridge from her rifle and loaded another into the breech. Heavy and Medic didn’t think twice as another round slammed into the next robot. Quickly making their way up out of the water, Heavy paused at the entrance to the compound, ready to close the blast door. 

Sniper backed up slowly. Fire. Reload. Fire. Reload. 

Scout-bot after Scout-bot dropped, but the swarm kept coming. Finally, she turned and ran, allowing Heavy to pull the door secure behind them.

Sniper looked the two women over. “You two look like you got caught up in a pack of dingos.” 

“It’s been a rough day.” Medic replied, returning her bonesaw to it’s holster. 

A banging started on the other side of the blast door. Sniper swung her submachine gun around. “That’s not going to hold long. We’d better keep going.” 

The three women made their way up from the lower levels of the compound, stopping only for a few minutes at the resupply point. Heavy grabbed Misha, feeling more secure with the weight of the minigun in her hands. Then they moved on.

Finally, they reached what used to be the BLU Intel room.

By now the rest of the team had reassembled. RED Scout was nervously bouncing from one foot to the other, chewing on the end of her long ponytail. BLU Pyro sat in the corner with their Balloonasarus pulled close. RED Demo watched the monitors in the command room below, all of which displayed line upon line of robots making their way towards the base, with BLU Soldier. The hands of the two women were gripped together, fights and misunderstandings long forgiven and forgotten. BLU Spy just watched everyone, her eyebrow barely raising as Heavy, Medic and Sniper entered the room.

“How close are they?” 

“The Scout-bots will be in the basement any minute.” Sniper replied as she settled on the desk. 

Spy took a long drag on her cigarette. “Then this may be the end.”

“The end? No, no, no, no!” Scout stomped her foot and glared at the rogue. “This is not gonna be how I go out! You can roll over like a typical frog, but it ain’t over till the fan man sings!”

For a moment Spy looked like she was going to push back, before she sighed. “If you have an idea, mon fille, please enlighten me. Otherwise,” she gestured to the monitors, “we have to accept the reality of the situation.”

In the corner Pyro made a little noise and hugged the Balloonasarus closer. 

“Well, what about the roof? We could maybe make it over to the ol’ RED base.”

“Perhaps you could. Maybe Tammy and John as well.” Spy nodded. “The rest of us, however…” She gestured over at the rest of the team. “No offence, ladies.”

“None taken.” Medic sighed as she leaned into Heavy, suddenly feeling very tired.

Scout bit her lip. “Then this is it. I mean, I ain’t gonna leave all of you…”

“Meet your fate like a woman.” Spy stood up and lay a hand on the young merc’s shoulder. “There is no shame in that.”

“Unless y’all don’t mind trying ‘Plan B.’”

BLU Engineer came into the room, a teleporter entrance slung over her shoulder. She dropped the contraption on the ground and kicked it on. The other mercenaries circled around as it sputtered to life, whirring and spinning at a frantic pace. As the arms swung, the feet of the contraption rattled, and the whole thing sent up a green glow that illuminated the room.

“Where’s the exit, Del?” Demo asked. “I ken ye haven’t built an exit all day.”

Engie pulled off her hard hat and looked at the spinning entrance. “Well, that’s the thing. I don’t rightly know where it is. It’s just… Not here.”

Everyone took a moment, letting the implications of the Texan’s words sink in. Possible escape, or possible death.

Suddenly, the ground underneath their feet shook with explosive force. “They’ve gotten through the bloody blast door!” Sniper snarled as she glanced at the monitors. “They’re gonna be here any second. What’s the plan?”

“Strategic withdrawal!” Soldier barked. “We may lose this battle, ladies, but I’ll be damned if I let that Gray bastard win the war!”

“Then get goin’!” Engie yelled. “Everyone get on in! I’ve got this thing rigged to blow as soon as I pass through.”

Without hesitation, Heavy stepped onto the platform, Misha under her arm. As the teleporter spun up, she looked back at Medic. “I make sure is safe.” The words faded as she disappeared in a flash of green light.   
Engineer herded Scout on next, followed by Pyro, Medic and Spy. Sniper smashed one of the windows from their vantage point in the Intel room, picking off the first of the Scout-bots to surge into the room below. Soldier hopped on the platform just in time to hear the preset line of sticky bombs go off, and Demo ran to the door to deploy a few more. As Soldier disappeared, Sniper jumped on. “Get on!” Engie hollered as Demo rushed back from the door. The green light flared and the Texan finally took her place on the teleporter. 

She set the tracker, the small device that would detonate the teleporter the moment she was pushed through to wherever they were going, just as she heard the second line of bombs go off. The platform started spinning, and she felt it jumping under her feet. She’d never felt a teleporter moving like this, and she suddenly found herself praying to whatever higher power might be out there that her calculations were correct.

A Scout-bot entered the room, it’s blue eyes glowing eerily beyond the green light of the teleporter. 

Then it was gone.

And all that she could see was darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Heavy landed on hard earth, the dull thud echoing around wherever it was she found herself. Taking a few steps forward, she set Misha down and pulled out a small torch that had been tucked away in her belt. The light sent a narrow beam of light out into the darkness, revealing red stone walls that had been carved away by water and wind. As she shone the light around, she heard the sound of water dripping in the darkness and the chirps followed by leathery wing beats as a colony of bats was roused too early from their sleep.

There was a sudden green flare behind her and the cavern was momentarily illuminated as Scout fell through the portal. She quickly scrambled up, looking every which way in an attempt to orient herself.

“Where are we?”

Heavy shook her head and shrugged. “I do not know. But is quiet.”

“Are we underground?”

“Is possible.”

“I hope Pyro comes through next.” Scout rubbed her bare arms. “It’s cold.”

Pyro was indeed the next mercenary through, followed in short order by the others. As Engineer fell through there was the sound of sucking of air, and the portal blipped out of existence. They all stood there for a few minutes, taking stock of their situation, illuminated only by the light coming from Heavy’s torch.

Spy spoke first.

“Engineer, do you have any idea where we are?” Her words echoed around the chamber.

The Texan lifted her goggles to get a better view in the darkness. She pulled out her own light and walked over to the nearest wall, touching her ungloved hand to the stone. “Sandstone. Looks like the stuff around Tuefort.”

“But you can’t be sure?

“Told you that before we got on the damn teleporter.” Engie scowled as she turned back to the group. “I don’t know where we are, when we are, or how we get back. There could be robots a hundred yards from here or a million years in the past.” She growled, planting her hands on her hips. “Ya’ll wanted time, I got you that.”

“Hudda?” She turned to find herself face to face with Balloonasaurus. From behind the heavy inflatable the black lenses of Pyro peered around, pushing the toy into her arms.

“Oh Pyro.” She sighed as she took the blue dino and gave it a squeeze. “I ain’t mad. I just don’t like knowin’ if I saved our bacon or jumped us right into the fire.” Quiet fell over the group as the weight of their decision started to weigh down on them. Engineer was right; they had no idea if they had bought themselves minutes, hours or days. On top of that, they had no way out. The cave was dark, with no immediate exit.

The silence was finally broken by Soldier. “Then we have the advantage! If we, humans with our superior brains have no idea where we are, those robots don’t have doubly no idea!” She grabbed Engineers’ lantern and swung it around the ground. “This is just like my time in ‘Nam. We find ourselves breeze or water and we find our way out.” Dropping to her knees, she pressed an ear to the ground. “And then we find those robots. And we take them apart bolt by bolt. And then we do the same thing to Mann!”

“John, love, what are ye doin’?” Demo crouched next to Soldier. “I donne think yer goin’ to find a tunnel to freedom down there.”

“Then we will find another route!” Soldier jumped up, knocking Demo back in surprise. “But I will not hide from those mockeries of Americans!”

“Soldier is right. We must move. Is no good to stay here.” Heavy looked around the cavern. “There are bats. That means there is a way out.” She focused the beam of her torch closer to the ceiling of the cave, slowly turning until she found a ledge. It sat about seven feet above the ground and looked wide enough for a person to stand on. Even standing on her toes, the shadows hid what was beyond the ledge, but as she watched, a single bat fluttered over her head and disappeared.

Sniper joined the large woman at the wall. “You plannin’ on sproutin’ wings?” 

“No need.” Heavy turned back to the others. “Little Scout, come here.” Scout looked up from where she had dropped to the ground, and hopped to her feet when she saw the larger woman beckoning her. “Get on shoulders and see what you find.” 

Grabbing hold of Heavy’s flak jacket, Scout climbed up to stand her shoulders. “Hey!” Scout waved her hand over the ledge. “I can feel air comin’ through!” Pushing off of Heavy’s shoulders, she clambered over the lip to the ledge above. In front of her was a gaping hole in the wall, and the breeze she felt was unmistakable. Taking a few steps forward, she found the remains of old mining tracks, leading out of the tunnel, to a rickety wooden door that let in small rays of light. “Yeah! There’s a tunnel! And I can see light!”

The others rushed to the wall and crowded around Heavy and Sniper. “How big is it?” Engineer called up.

“Plenty!” Scout’s face lit up as she looked back down at the others. “Mamma Bear down there is gonna be a little snug, but we are so close to the sweet taste of freedom!”

An audible sigh escaped Engie. “Thank heavens. Let’s get on outta here.”

Using Heavy as a ladder, the team quickly joined Scout up on the ledge. Once everyone else was up, it came down to a team effort to first haul Misha and then assist Heavy the rest of the way. After everyone was safely up, Scout took off down the tunnel, kicking the brittle boards that had been separating them from the outside.

The sight was beautiful. 

Walking out of the cave, they looked out at the New Mexican desert, the large red sun slowly setting below the horizon. The night sky crept across the sky from the east with the stars starting to twinkle against the inky darkness, with the air feeling light in their lungs. 

And the scent of diesel was nowhere to be found. 

The cave entrance overlooked the land below with an overgrown trail nearby, evidence that what they had teleported into had at one time been a mine. Below them were familiar looking buildings, blazoned with familiar logos.

Reliable Excavation Demolition.

Builder’s League United.

“So… Are we home?” Scout whispered, the oddness of the situation subduing the normally boisterous merc.

Engineer scratched her chin as she looked down at the buildings. “I don’t rightly know.” Her eyes scanned over the structures, trying to find anything that she could grab on to.

“Then we should exercise caution.” Spy maneuvered to the front of the group. “I will go ahead and find out what I can.” Pulling out her disguise kit, she quickly made sure that it was all in order. “You all wait here. I will report back a soon as I can.”

“Is that wise?” Medic asked. “If you run into something unexpected... “

“Then I will be the best equipped to not get caught by it.” Spy cut the doctor off. “We are losing light and have no time to debate this.” Tucking the disguise kit back into her suit pocket, Spy headed down the path. “Two hours. If I am not back, assume the worst.”

***

Spy slipped into the RED Compound with the ease only years of practice could bring. BLU would have been her preferred first stop, but it was farther away and she had limited time for her mission. 

So far there had been no signs of anyone, despite the building being completely lit. The floor plan was identical to the paths she had taken daily as a matter of routine before the robots came. Her feet remembered them, carrying her down hallways almost instinctively. Soon she came to a crossway, causing her to quickly glance up and down to decide on where to go. To the left, there were voices, low, likely male. 

Curiosity prickled at the back of her mind, and she found herself terribly curious to find who their owners were. The prior RED and BLU teams had been male. Engineer’s father had been among them. Perhaps Del had been more right than she’d thought when saying that she wasn’t sure where or when they were.

Down the right though, was the Intelligence Room. The central hub of the compound. There she would be able to find out all of the answers she wanted. In and out with time to spare.

There would be time for making friends later. 

Soft leather padded quietly against the tiled floors, the light sound of her footfalls the only sign of her passing as her cloaked form flitted from doorway to doorway. To her left was a set of double doors that she knew lead to a respawn point, or at least did in her past. It was tempting to slip inside, if nothing more than to remember what a working one looked like, but she continued on. After what felt like hours, she made her way to the doors to the Intelligence Room.

She waited in the shadows, allowing her cloak to recharge before pressing forward, easing the door open with her shoulder. The room was empty, as it always was between fights, with a single briefcase sitting on the desk. In a hazy past she wouldn’t have thought twice about grabbing it, but that wasn’t the information she was here to find. 

On the opposite side of the room was a computer bank. That was her goal today. In it would be all the information about the day to day operations of the base. No secret information about the Gravel Wars or stashes of Australium; this would hold requisitions and personal requests. Tidbits that would never matter to the Mann Brothers, but that would be invaluable to Spy and her comrades. 

Working quickly, she flipped out the small terminal and let a small smile cross her face as she found that it was completely without any type of security. No alarms, no sentries. In a few minutes RED would be an open book to her. There was a data tape already inserted into the machine, which was a little… troubling. These things were expensive and rarely would be left sitting, even when it came to such mundane information as expenses. But on the other hand, she now had a way of taking the information with her, even if she didn’t know when she would have a chance to read it. Her cloak fell as she typed, and she took a breath to steady her nerves.

The command-line interface popped up on the screen and she quickly started typing. After a few unsuccessful tries, she finally brought up the information that she was looking for. Personnel. Assignments.

Contracts.

Her fingers tapped the cursor to that last word. As they raised to bring up the data, she suddenly became aware of another presence in the room.

“Now what’s a nice BLU like you doin’ in a place like this?”

The drawl came nice and slow, but Spy felt the menace behind it, reinforced by the sudden press of gun barrel into her back.

“Now, I’m gonna give you to the count of five to tell me what yer doin’ here, or else you gonna find out what my daddy taught me to do with backstabbers.”


	3. Chapter 3

“It’s been too long. She should have been back by now.” Demo gazed down in the valley below, squinting her good eye to try and make out any shapes in the darkness. She’d been keeping watch for the rogue for the better part of an hour, checking the timer normally reserved for explosives. Two hours had been the longest countdown that it had ever run, and time just ran out.

The rest of the team had settled just inside the tunnel. Making her way inside, she saw them all piled together to insulate themselves against the cool desert night. Scout had wedged herself between Engie and Heavy, who had Medic wrapped in her other arm and Pyro cuddled in beside them. Solder was sitting cross legged next to the lot of them, and acknowledged Demo’s entrance with the barest tilt of her helmet.

“Two hours.” 

The helmet slid back, revealing Soldier's eyes. Fatigue lined them, and Demo tried to remember the last time any of them had a real night’s sleep.

“You think Yvette’s gone AWOL?”

“Nae, she’s an icy thing, but she’s loyal.I think she’s been taken.”

Soldier got to her feet. “Then this is now a rescue mission. No woman left behind.”

“Aye. Now let’s go raise the troops, lassie!”

***

"Fellas, ya'll best get down to the Intel Room."

Spy fidgeted in her bindings. She had to admit that the man tied a good knot. 

"I gotta BLU down here. A spy. Yeah, I know they're supposed to be in Dustbowl, but he's sitting right here." 

The little man tapped his foot impatiently, his fingers drumming against the communication console.

"Something's wrong with his kit, though. Hologram's on the fritz." 

Merde, this did rather pose an inconvenience. She flicked her lighter, noting off-hand that it was almost out of fluid.

“Tarnation! How’d you get undone?”

Spy looked up at the dark welding goggles looking back at her. “Practice.” She smiled sweetly round her cigarette as the lighter finally lit. 

He grabbed her wrists as she brought her hand up to light it, and yanked them behind the back of the chair. “Dang spies, always poking in where they don’t belong... “ He muttered as he lashed her back down with a cord that he kept on his hip and gave it a sharp tug to make sure it was secure.

“Was that really necessary?”

“If your lips are movin’, then the answer to that would be yes.” He picked his shotgun back up and leaned back into the desk behind him. Rolling the unlit cigarette between her lips, she finally was able to take a good look at her captor. He was a short and square man with a strong jaw and skin almost tanned to the point of being leather. The hard hat and goggles left no mystery to the fact that he was an engineer. Taking in the features she could, she tried to see if there was any sign of Del in his face at all. Any clue as to if she was looking at the father of her friend.

“So this is the BLU Spy?” 

She turned around at the sound of the words spoken in a familiar but indeterminate accent. The man who had just entered the room was tall, with icy blue eyes and a lean form contained within a suit that had been tailored to within an inch of its life. He wore a red balaclava - silk, if she had to guess - that simultaneously hid and highlighted the features of his face. This was no doubt the RED Spy, the handsome devil.

“Careful, Spy.” The engineer pointed his shotgun in her general direction. “He’s already got himself loose once.”

“Hm.” RED Spy approached her chair and she could feel his gaze. Sizing her up. Determining if she was a threat. “Captured by an engineer. Obviously malfunctioning disguises. So far I would say that the sharpest thing about him is the suit.” Leaning forward, she could smell the smoke from a recent Gauloises lingering on his jacket. “Not your usual level of performance, but I would be very curious to know just why you are here.”

“Well, I was in the neighborhood and the door just happened to be open.” Her response was casual and she leaned back as much as she could in the chair. “A friendly visit, I assure you.”

“A friendly visit?” Engineer snorted. “You were rootin’ around in the admin computer.”

“Curiosity, a curse of our kind.” She wiggled the cigarette in her mouth. “Do you mind?”

Spy sighed and leaned forward, finally giving her a light. She leaned back and inhaled, her mind racing to figure a way out of her current situation.

“Where is the intruder!?” A red hurricane of chaos burst into the room, slamming the door open and grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. “I will not stand for weakness in our defenses!”

“Hey there, Solly, calm down.” Engineer lowered his shotgun and walked over to the helmeted hulk. “We got the snake.”

Brushing past the smaller man, Soldier thrust his face, curled into a snarl, to within an inch of the BLU’s. She felt his hot breath seeping through her mask and almost felt the fury spilling off of him. Her eyes met the line of his helmet and she suddenly remembered just how much it had hurt the last time a RED soldier had caught hold of her.

“I will NOT stand for infiltrations!” A thick finger came up in front of her nose. “I will NOT stand to have our perimeter breached!” He poked his finger into her chest. “I will NOT…”

He suddenly went quiet, then stood absolutely still before jerking his hand back like he had been shocked.

“This is not a spy!”

Spy groaned into his hands. “Of course that is a spy, Soldier.”

“It it not. It is squishy!” He walked over to Spy and poked him. “You are not, and you are a spy!!”

A cool piece of metal slipped out of her sleeve. Nimble fingers silently flipped opened the balisong, turning its blade to the smooth cord.

***

Scout slowly crept forward, her back pressed to the wall of the building. The others were waiting back in the darkness, just beyond the lights that flooded the courtyard. Her heart was still beating a mile a minute from the overheal Medic had given her before she struck out, and her fingers clenched at the grip of the Sandman in her hands.

Their last fight against the robots had left them unready for any sort of direct assault on the compound, leaving stealth as the only chance to get Spy out of whatever mess she had gotten caught up in. Glancing around, she noticed a glint from the top of a tower that stood on the edge of the courtyard. 

Sniper had found herself a nest.

That thought made her feel a little better.

She quietly made her way down the embankment to the sewer entrance. It was just like she remembered it, only with the water mostly clear instead of cloudy with robot guts. Stepping into the entrance to the RED base, she secured the bat to her back and made her way on in.

***

“Solly, don’t be silly. BLU ain’t gonna just swap out a spy.”

“Indeed.” Spy lit himself a cigarette and gestured to the BLU sitting in front of them. “There protocols for such things, after all.”

There was a soft *tap* as the cord hit the floor, too quiet for any of the men to notice. Soft kid gloves rubbed at tender skin from where they had been rubbed raw from her work. Her feet had not been bound at all.

Amatures.

“But it is squishy!” The brutish Soldier barked again.

“Mon Dieu… Engineer, please make sure that our BLU friend is properly disarmed and we can move him to the holding cell. After that we can contact Miss Pauling and report this flagrant violation of furlough regulations.”

“Question!”

“Yes, Soldier.”

“We have holding cells?”

“Yes, Soldier, of course we do. What else would we do with… No, no, nevermind. I do not want to know.”

Engineer shook his head and walked back over to the BLU. She watched as he approached and let the cigarette fall from her lips to grind it out under her shoe. Part of her wondered if the soldier’s words had somehow affected him, but those large hands seemed more hesitant to touch her than they had been earlier. 

She grinned. “Do I make you nervous, mon petit chou?” A pleasing blush spread across the man’s face. 

“Let’s get this over with, BLU.” 

The leather glove opened her jacket and reached for the revolver tucked inside. As soon as his fingers wrapped around the grip, his wrist was grabbed by a pair of blue-gloved hands. Wrenching his arm around, the blade of the balisong pressed up against his neck.

“Non, non. I’m not that kind of girl.” She whispered into his ear. “Gentlemen.” Spy and Soldier had quit their sniping and were giving her their undivided attention, “As much as I’ve enjoyed our time together, I’m afraid that I must take my leave.”

Spy drew his own revolver. “I hope your plan doesn’t hinge on using him as a hostage. We do have respawn active.”

“Spy! You damned snake!”

He pointed the gun straight at the two of them. “Engineer, I hope you will be professional about this.” 

“I admire your dedication.” She glanced down at the arm wrapped around the engineer’s shoulder. “But it really is time for me to go.” Raising her foot, she kicked the small man at his teammates before quickly activating her cloak.

“Spy, you low down rat!”

“Toymaker! Business! That spy is loose!” 

“Battlestations!’ Soldier yelled, slamming the red briefcase alert button. Sirens blared, lights flashed, and the BLU slipped out into the hall.

***

Scout was making her way through the basement when the alarm sounded. “Aw crap…” She muttered through clenched teeth as she sped up to a jog. Alarms were not good. Never good. And it probably meant that the shit was about to hit the fan. Making her way up a set of stairs, she paused at a corner, trying to hear anything over the wail of the sirens.

“A BLU Spy?”

The voice was high, but definitely belonged to a man. Scout hunkered down, pulling the bat from her back. 

“How on earth did that happen?”

Slowly poking her head around the corner, she looked into the infirmary. At the far end she could see a man in a white coat. 

“Uh, dummkopfs…”

Okay, a medic. No problem. Probably old enough to be my ol’ man.

She heard the sound a phone being hung up. 

“What’s the word, Doc?”

Shit! Another one?

“Somehow our illustrious colleagues have allowed a BLU spy loose in our base.”

“Bloody hell, how did that happen?”

“I would like to know the answer to that as well.”

There was the distinctive sound of a bolt being thrown. “My cue to exit.” Scout muttered. A medic on their own would be easy. Anyone else and forget about it. Who knew what kinda weird shit this medic had done to their team. There was another way up to the next level that didn’t include skipping past the Frankenstein. 

Spinning around, Scout jumped up and took off full speed.

Right into a wall.

“Shit!” Scout yelped, stumbling back. “Who put a wall here?!” She shook her head as she leaned into the padded wall. “Whoo! Good thing that alarm was going off. Otherwise someone would have heard that for sure.”

Wait.

“What kinda wall is squishy?”

“Why is little Scout hiding outside Doktor’s office?”


	4. Chapter 4

Scout stumbled back and looked up at the mountain of a man standing in front of her. 

He was absolutely massive, and that was saying something considering that she worked with Heavy for the past five years. One of his giant paws grabbed the back of her shirt, lifting her off the goddamned floor. She swung loosely in space, suddenly feeling like that kitten she found at the gas station back when she was twelve. 

The question was repeated slowly in a deep voice that sent each word rumbling through her. 

"Why little Scout hiding outside Doktor's office?" 

Scout squirmed, trying to figure out a way of getting out of this short of shucking her shirt altogether. 

"Heavy, put Scout down." Scout spun around to see the medic and another horse faced man in a slouch hat and amber aviator glasses turning around the corner. "Whatever he's done can wait until after this spy situation is resolved." She felt the heavy behind her shrug, and she was unceremoniously dropped onto the ground. 

“Ow!” 

“Don’t be such a baby, Scout.” The medic chided, a disapproving look on his face as he looked at Scout, who was rubbing the spot where she had landed. “And when was the last time you got a haircut? Honestly, you look like a girl.”

Scout wasn’t sure whether she wanted to punch him right in his smug old man face or just count herself as lucky and try to get away.

“You are lookin’ a bit shaggy there, mate.” The man in sunglasses hoisted a rifle over his shoulder as he passed by, heading towards what Scout knew to be the resupply point and leaving her sitting between the medic and heavy. 

“Yeah, yeah.” She slowly got to her feet, keeping her head down and the brim of her hat drawn down. As soon as she was up, she picked up her pace towards the Intelligence room.

“Where Scout going?”

She slowed a little and turned around to see the medic and heavy looking at her with confusion on their faces. “Uhhh, just checkin’ on the intel. If there’s a spy loose, that’s where they’re gonna be, right?”

“Spy just called from there!” The medic snapped. “The spy is heading this way.”

“So I’ll meet ‘em halfway!” She waved the bat in front of her. “And then that spy’s gonna be in a… OOPH!”

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” 

Scout was pushed forward by whoever she’d run into and took a few steps to regain her footing. She swung around and froze when she found herself looking at a lanky RED in a t-shirt and cap.

“Aw, crap.”

“Gentlemen.” She heard an overly large knife being drawn from its sheath. “ I think we’ve found our spook.”

***

In the scrub just outside of the light the rest of the team waited anxiously. Sniper was still embedded in the tower, completely still with only an occasional glance down at the others to indicate that she was alive. Engineer held a small radio, tuned to the frequency that Scout kept on her mic. So far there had been nothing but silence from inside the compound.

Suddenly the radio started crackling, and everyone gathered around Engie as she fined tuned the frequency. “Scout, what is yer status? Have you found Spy?”

_Oh god! He’s like a bear! A big shaved bear that hates people!_

“Scout, are you okay!?”

The radio fritzed and went silent. 

“Scout!” Soldier grabbed the radio and started shouting into it. “You do not have my permission to be captured or to die! Do you hear me, private!” She turned the dial, sending the device through bands of static before throwing it to the ground. “Another one of our own has been taken by the enemy!” Pulling out her shovel, Soldier lurched forward, only to be grabbed and yanked back by a furious Scotswoman.

“Now don’ ye go rushin’ into things, John!” Demo pulled the other women around by her helmet’s chin straps. “We dinne have any idea what’s goin’ on in there, so I’m not just gonna let ye run off and get yerself killed!”

“Demo is right.” Heavy stepped up behind the American. “Must be smart. Not robots, but we still have no respawn.” 

“Look, we all know this building.” Engineer gathered the mercenaries around. “And ultimately we don’t have any quarrel with the folks inside.”

“No quarrel?” Sniper snorted. “You might not have noticed, but Scout sounds like she’s well in the shit and we still don’t know what happened to Spy.”

“All the same, they don't know why we’re here. You honestly think Spy’s just gonna walk up and tell ‘em the damned truth?”

“Of course not! They’d never believe it!”

“So we can’t just kill them for me gettin’ us into this!” Engineer shouted. The others fell quiet and looked at her. She felt a prickling at the corners of her eyes. This was all her fault, her calculations, her planning, all of it was the reason why here team was stranded here. The reason why Scout was being chased by something awful and the reason why they didn’t know if Spy was alive or dead.

She couldn’t be the reason why any more humans had to die.

“Engineer… Del,” Medic came up along side her. “They might have a working respawn system.”

“But what if they don’t?” 

“Then what do we do, mein Liebe? We must do something.”

Engineer took a breath, steadying herself. “Well, I reckon we play cowgirl. Like I said, we all know this building. We gotta push ‘em back somewhere we can contain ‘em.” 

“Second floor. Was respawn for us, may be somethin’ similar here.” Demo took Soldier’s shovel from her hands and started drawing a floor plan into the dirt. “Three exits, but if we can block them off, we’ll have them.” 

The team gathered around. And plotted. 

Once the plan was set, Soldier looked over at Demo. “Permission to go knock heads?”

The RED sighed. “Aye. Permission granted.”

***

Scout sprinted like her life depended on it. Behind was the thunder of the REDS who were hot on her tail.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!

How in the world was it fair for her to have a medic, a sniper, a scout and a goddamned heavy all on her?!

She zig-zagged down the hall with bullets striking all around her. The earth shaking footsteps of the heavy had fallen behind, leaving her with the lighter footfalls of the scout. Her breaths came in heavy puffs and she only had a few more yards to the front entrance. The pistol on her belt had run out of ammo a long time ago, so she yanked off and threw it behind her wildly. It clattered as it hit the floor, but the grunt of the man behind her let her know that it had bought her a few seconds and she burst through the door into the open night air. 

“You’re a fast little rabbit, aren’t ya?” 

A hand reached out and Scout felt herself grabbed by her ponytail. There was a quick yank back, bringing her crashing back and knocking the wind out of her. Groaning, she tried to find her bat.

There was a pressure on her chest. “You lookin’ for this?” He was standing over her, the scout, with a fuckin’ shit-eating grin on his face. She tried to growl, but it came out too embarrassingly close to a whimper. “Oh what, you gonna cry now?” The fucker was doing a damn victory dance over her. 

She grabbed the end of the bat, trying to wrestle it away, but her head was still spinning. Black spots floated in her vision…

“You might as well just take that disguise down now, pal. ‘Cause you ain’t foolin’ no one.”

That spot was getting bigger. Actually, it was looking less like a spot now…

“Man, I don’t know why Spy had just a problem with you. You ain’t nothing…”

CRACK!

The stock of the rifle slammed down hard, sending the scout to the ground in a heap.“Holy dooly, and I thought you talked a lot.”

“Mickey?”

An arm slipped behind Scout and propped her up. Sniper pulled Scout close, holding her still until the world stopped spinning.

“Heya, Roo. It’s okay. I got ya.”

***

Splashes echoed down the tunnels as Pyro and Engineer made their way in. Every few feet the flame thrower would spurt out a short burst. Old habits died hard.

They were aiming to get to the back of the compound and find some way of flanking the REDs. While she had her shotgun, Engineer had precious few shots, and was running through plans in her head, trying to figure out what she could do with the limited resources that she had. At the moment she was cursing herself for having left her pistol behind in favor of the Wrangler. She’d just been so proud of the damned thing.

“Del!” 

The two mercenaries skidded to a stop, both having heard what was barely more than a whisper. A blue form slipped out of the shadows from where it had been hidden moments before. 

“HUDDA!” 

“Yvette!

Pyro bounded forward, pulling the rogue into a tight hug and then pulling Engineer in with their other arm.

“Tarnation, girl! You had us scared half to death!”

“Je suis désolé.” Spy murmured into her friend’s shoulder. “I was sloppy.”

“But you’re okay, right?” Engineer stepped back, looking over the slightly rumpled blue suit. “You’re not hurt?”

“My pride is a bit wounded, that is all. Now we should leave.” 

“Muurph!” Pyro shook their head and took a few steps deeper into the base.

Spy looked confused. “Scout? What about her? Was she not with you?”

“No, when you didn’t come back, she went lookin’ for ya. That’s why we’re here. Things went sideways, and well, she got caught too.”

The lighter flicked on to light a cigarette. “So what is the plan?”

“Well, basically we’re gonna take this fort.”

An amused smile crossed Spy’s face. “Ambitious! I like it!”

“Good. ‘Cause the others are already movin’ into position. Pyro and I are supposed to flank ‘em, but…”

“But?”

“But I got two shots left and a Wrangler.”

Spy thought for a moment, then motioned for Engineer and Pyro to follow. “In my misadventures, I was able to find out a small amount of information. For one, there is an engineer here. And I have no doubt that he is doing what any good engineer would do in such a situation.”

“Sentry?”

“Oui. I do believe I heard him banging away as I made my exit.”

“But we ain’t trying to kill no one!”

“Ah, but that brings me to my next discovery.” Spy spun around with a flourish of her knife. “They have a working respawn.”

***

As alarms continued to blare, the RED mercenaries found themselves getting attacked from every angle in their own base. Once they had lost track of the BLU spy, everything seemed to start going wrong.

First, they had completely lost Scout. Worryingly, the Bostonian hadn’t shown up in respawn.

Second, their basement restock room was sealed somehow from the inside. Demo and Soldier had tried prying it open, but there was some force inside keeping the door pinned to the ground. When the doctor and Heavy had doubled back to report Scout’s going missing, the Russian had given it a shot. 

Wedging his fingers under the door he had given it a heave, and the door jerked up about a foot.

“Chyort voz'mi!!” 

Heavy had let the door go when he heard it, the metal grate slamming back to the ground. “Is Russian.” 

“Is that a problem?” Spy appeared at his side.

“I told you that spy was squishy!” Soldier barked from Heavy’s other side. “The intruder did not come alone! There are other squishy non-spies!”

“The daft loon may be right.” Demo leaned an ear against the door. “I can hear more than one crawlin’ around in there.”

“Is… strange.” Heavy paused. “Was woman’s voice.”

“A woman’s voice?” Medic joined them, leaning his own ear against the metal. “Are you sure?” 

“Da. Sounded like sisters.”

***

“Chyort voz'mi!” Heavy was surprised by the sudden change in strength of whoever it was trying to lift the gate. Demo, Soldier and Medic all jumped in, throwing their weight onto the door to keep it shut. They pulled back as whoever it was let go, sending it slamming back to the floor.

The four had made their way into the basement resupply room, after launching a two pronged assault on RED. Demo and Soldier had rocket jumped to the upper level, while Heavy and Medic sniped around the main floor, using the familiarity with the layout to keep the REDs confused. Eventually, though, they started running out of ammo and pulled back to the basement.

“We can’t stay in here forever!” Medic whispered as she set the Medi-Gun across her teammates, building her ÜberCharge.

“Nae, but we’re gonna be able to give them a good fight before we go down.” Demo grinned, pulling munitions off the shelf.

Heavy kept her grip on the door. “But we are not killing.”

“I’m not seein’ that we’re gonna have much of a choice if this keeps up.”

Demo, Soldier, Heavy, Medic, can you hear me?

“Spy?” Demo pulled out the radio. “Where in the seven hells have ye been?”

Not important right now. Listen to me. They have respawn. They. Have. Respawn. Get ready. When you hear my queue, give them everything you have! Let them know that we are every bit the mercenaries they are!

***

Outside, Pyro and Engineer hung back from the resupply door. The RED firebug was jumpy, sending small shots of flame out every few seconds, forcing the Texan to keep his distance. He couldn’t blame Pyro one bit. His finger twitched on the trigger of his shotgun, ready to pull at any second.

From around the upper hall there was a sudden wailing and beeping. Rushing around, Engineer found his dispenser sparking and shuddering as its motor puttered to a stop. “That spy sapped my dispenser!” He called back down the stairs. Until he could get it back up and running, they were completely dependant on Medic and the Quick-Fix. He rushed to the front resupply point to get repair materials, but as he passed the hallway near the Intel room the sound of footsteps reached his ears.

“I’m movin’ this!” He heard a cheery voice call out.

His heart dropped.

Taking off at top speed, his worst fears were confirmed.

His sentry was gone. His beautiful third-level beauty was nowhere to be seen. 

“Damnit, damnit, damnit!”

He sprinted back to the group. 

“The damned snakes took my sentry!”

“What?!” Horrified looks were plastered on the faces of his teammates. 

“It’s gone! They just plum up and took it.”

“They did not. They have brought it closer.” Soldier pointed behind them. 

There was the RED sentry.

Along with three BLUs. One of which was holding a Wrangler. The BLU spy blew a kiss. “We meet again, mon petit chou!” 

REDs Engineer looked like he was about to burst. “Turning a man’s sentry against him? That’s low.”

“Ah, but all is fair in love and war.” She raised a radio up from behind her back. “So, mes amis, when you are ready! Fire!”

There no time to react. 

There was a whirring from behind RED, a sound that Heavy knew too well, and the door to resupply flew open. A hail of bullets poured out, illuminated in a blaze of red light, followed by every other munition that Mann Co. sold. The sentry fired and flame spewed forth.

And for RED, everything faded to a very painful white.


	5. Chapter 5

The scent of ozone lingered in the air. Respawn.

Spy wriggled his toes and fingers, gradually working his way up the extremities to make sure everything was in its proper place. One never could be too careful.

There was no noise from outside the room, a stark contrast to when he had woken up here during skirmishes. Normally he would hear the roar of the minigun or explosions from down the corridor, but right now it was as silent as the grave. Slowly sitting up, he looked around to see his fellows also beginning to regain their senses.

“Did anyone get the number of that lorrey?” Sniper grumbled, dusting off his slouch hat before recovering his rifle. “Don’t think I’ve been that blown to smithereens since that payload mission last June.”

Lighting a cigarette, Spy thought as he took a drag and blew out a blue plume towards the ceiling. “I believe that was largely due a third-level sentry firing rockets at close range.” He stood up and nudged Engineer with his pointed toe. “That was a BLU engineer, was it not? How were they able to commandeer it, mon ami. I was not aware such a thing was possible.”

“Don’t you ‘mon ami’ me.” Engineer pushed Spy’s foot away. “I’m still trying to decide which of you two snakes I feel like skinnin’ first.”

“Are you going to bring that up again?”

“You pointed that blasted gun right at me!”

“And it might have just saved us ALL a trip to respawn if I had actually used it.” Spy rolled his hand. “However, you have not answered the question that is actually relevant to our current situation. How is it that a BLU engineer took control of a RED sentry.”

Engineer drew himself up to his full height, still much shorter than Spy, but it made him feel a little better. “They had a Wrangler. It’s just a matter of programin’ the frequency proper. Pretty easy if it’s already been compromised by a sapper.” He looked at the stunned look on Spy’s face. “What? It’s a machine. Not like there’s a separate set of RED and BLU frequencies. Engineers just… Well, it’s professional courtesy. You just don’t jack another man’s buildings.”

“And there was an ÜberCharge.” Medic leaned on Heavy as he got back to his feet. 

“BLUs Über, Doc. That’s nothing new.” Sniper pointed out.

“A RED ÜberCharge.” Medic held his finger up. “BLU’s ÜberCharge is blue. That was a conditional modification of the equipment when I was forced to share the technology. That light we all saw before winding up here was red.”

Spy signed. “I am starting to suspect that these… people, whoever they are, are not the BLUs we thought they were.”

“I knew that!” Soldier snorted. “That was clear back at the Intel Room.”

“Yes, yes. Squishy, I know.” Spy’s eyes rolled in his balaclava. “But the fact that one of them may be a woman tells us nothing.”

“Then we should ask.”

“They did not seem particularly keen to talk, Soldier.”

“We should talk to that one!” Soldier barked back, pointing over Spy’s shoulder. 

The group turned around. Pyro was seated at the clear doors that led back to the main halls. They held their Balloonicorn out in front of them, bouncing it back and forth in front of the bulletproof glass. Just on the other side was the BLU Pyro, their masked face pressed up against the window and following the motion of the pink toy. 

"Mumph!" 

"Huddah! 

BLU Pyro leaned back and pulled out a strange toy of their own. A powder blue dinosaur. RED Pyro let out a happy noise and clapped as the BLU started to mimic their movements with the dino. The other mercs watched the two fire starters in stunned silence. 

Soldier let out a growl. “Fraternizing with the enemy…”

“This is ridiculous.” Spy sputtered as he moved towards the door. His hand was about to grab the handle when an unfamiliar voice piped up. 

"I wudnna recommend that, laddie." 

Looking through the window was a woman in red, her feet kicked up on the metal bars that crisscrossed the window as she lounged back in a chair. The woman dropped her feet to the floor and leaned forward, an open bottle in her hand. 

Demo jumped up and banged the window. "Ya one-eyed trollop! That's my Scrumpy!" 

Tossing back the rest of the bottle, the woman stood and swaggered forward. "Nae, it was yer Scrumpy.” 

“Mademoiselle.” 

She tapped the empty bottle against the window and smiled as her attention returned to Spy. “Aye?”

“Why wouldn’t you recommend it?”

“Because there’s currently ten M183 demolition charge assemblies all formed in’ta directionally geared holdings all pointed in to yer bonny face, love.” Spy leaned and was able to see the outside casings of the explosives planted around the doorframe. “Ye open that door, an’ you and yer mates are gonna have a one-way ticket to Kingdom Come, and take yer pretty little respawn point with ye.”

Spy’s hand dropped from the handle. “Convincing argument.”

“And so we find ourselves at an impasse.” BLU Spy suddenly appeared at the door. “What an amusing situation, non?”

“Now this don’t make no sense.” Engineer stomped up to the door and looked from one woman to the other. “We got a RED and a BLU on the same side?”

“Oui! In fact, several REDs and several BLUs” Spy wrapped an arm around Demo’s waist and gave her a squeeze. “We are a veritable dual colored rainbow of friendship.”

RED Spy’s face wore a trained expression. “So what is it that you want? Do you mean to keep us prisoner here?”

“Information, mon ami.”

“You are after the intelligence? You could have taken it and been away by now.” He snorted. “I think I stand by my earlier estimations of your abilities as a spy.”

BLU Spy glared at her RED counterpart. “And yet who is trapped within their own base?”

“I think that had more to do with the sentry than you.”

“Ah yes, let’s talk about how easy that was…”

“Now hold on a darn’ minute, missy..!”

As the sniping continued in earnest, Medic and Heavy explored another section of the fort. The doctor walked quickly down the hall with the larger woman following closely behind. “Where are we going, Inge?”

“To the Infirmary.” 

“You are not hurt?”

“Nein, but as neither of us are any good at accessing computer terminals, then where better to find information on these mercenaries than medical records?” She burst through the double doors and glanced around the room. “They are almost identical to the official ones, just with the addition of medical history.” 

It was laid out precisely the way her infirmary had once been. There was a small pang of loss as she walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled out the top drawer. Files were lined up neatly, just as she had kept hers. She picked out the one labeled “Medic.”

Flipping the file open, she started pouring over the information within. The first few pages were simply fitness reports - although the accuracy of any self-reporting was to be highly suspect. As with most medics, he appeared to be similar in age to her and in good health. A similar diagnosis of youth onset myopia and a similar prescription to her own. She turned a few pages more.

Her heart froze in her chest.

Schematics. For a Medi-Gun, complete with ÜberCharge and ÜberCharge heart modifications.

Her schematics.

She would know them anywhere. She had laboured over them for years, testing and retesting. How did this man have them? And these were the schematics, not a copy. Pencil lines smudged under her fingers and she felt the indentations in the paper. Placing the schematics on the table, she continued through the file and as she went deeper she began to see things, little details, that were eerily familiar. 

The same medical school.

The same clinical focus.

The same disappearance.

With every page she came closer and closer to feeling as if she were reading her own file. 

“Inge.” Heavy’s voice beckoned from the other side of the room.

Medic turned and looked at where Heavy was standing. Near the operating table, there was a small hutch. She could hear the soft cooing from within. A dovecote. Heavy opened the door and pulled out a little white bird, it’s head tinged in blood. “It looks like a baby Aemilia.”

“Nein, nein, nein…” Medic whispered as the idea slowly pulled itself into her mind. She turned back to the file cabinet and pulled out another file. Heavy. Spreading the contents of the file across the desk, she poured over them seeing the same similarities. 

Über enhanced heart. Replaced with a mega-baboon heart. Outside of the height and weight, she knew this folder as well as she knew that of her lover’s. 

“Inge?” Heavy looked up and saw the doctor hunched over the desk. Normally the sight of a dove would be enough to send her into adoring coos of her own, but now all she saw were tense shoulders that were rising and falling with each breath the woman took. “What is it?”

“Sasha, these files… They are ours.”

Heavy walked up and looked at the papers strewn out before her. Her fingers touched the documents that she knew to be hidden in her own file. Official Soviet documents that had marked her family as criminals, a copy of the faded transcript that was her only reminder of a dream of academia. “How..?” 

Grabbing the papers in her hand, she spun on her heel and stormed out the door. Medic quickly grabbed the other files and hurried after her.

The two women turned the corner to see that the bickering at the respawn point had reached a near fever pitch. With the exception of the two Pyros, both sets of mercenaries were at the door with a thin pane of bulletproof glass and explosives between them. 

“MOVE!” She bellowed, causing both factions to go silent. The women quickly backed up, knowing better than to get in front of the giantess when she wore that look on her face. She came to a stop in front of the door with Medic behind her. “//YOU.//” She pointed at the largest man in the respawn room, dropping English all together. 

If what they had seen in the infirmary was correct, she had no need for it.

For a minute the man looked surprised that he was being addressed in his native tongue. He looked at the formidable woman in front of him and the dark haired woman standing behind, and then approached the door. 

She pressed the Soviet order up to the door. “//What is this?//”

“//The order that imprisoned my family.//”

“//Camp 47.//”

“//Y... yes.//”

“//But you escaped.//” She couldn’t help her hand starting to tremble at the memory. The man raised his own hand to the scrap of paper. It had been so long since he had seen it, he had almost forgotten that it still existed.

“//Yes. My mother, my sisters and me.//” He felt his heart skip. Nowhere on the order did it mention escape. There were no official records of that.

“//Three sisters.//”

“//Yes.//”

“//Zhanna, Bronislava and Yana.//”

His voice was a whisper. “//How do you know that?//” 

It felt as if the air had been sucked out of the room. Her mind was reeling with what she was hearing. She felt a hand, removed from its protective glove, on her arm, grounding her. She took a breath.

“//Because this is the order that imprisoned my family in Camp 47.//”


	6. Chapter 6

The two Russians stared at each other through the glass.

Heavy’s fingers traced the order that the woman held up against the door. “//So what does this mean?//”

“//It means that we need your help.//” She sighed, tired and worn. “//Other than that this is 2Fort base, we know nothing. Aside from what you see, we have nothing.//” Their hands fell away from the glass as they looked at each other.

His eyes flicked over to the black haired woman who had been standing off to the side clutching a stack of folders to her chest. Her hair was in complete disarray, and a once pristine jacket torn and filthy, but her face and posture were familiar, just wrapped in another body. She had moved to the other mercenaries on their side of the door and was distributing the folders, talking in hushed tones that were even further dampened within the respawn area.

“Heavy, what is going on?” Medic slipped up behind him, leaning forward as he adjusted his spectacles. “Are those my files?!”

“Quiet.” Heavy placed a hand on the doctor’s shoulder, stilling him. They watched as the women opened the files that they were handed and rifled through the pages within. An animated conversation ensued, although the words were still unintelligible behind the glass.

He felt another presence at this side as Spy drew close to the door, cautiously eyeing the giant woman on the other side. “Negotiations for our freedom? Information for our lives?”

“No. There is nothing in those folders that they do not already know.”

Spy’s head turned as he gave Heavy a quizzical look. “And how is that? The spy did not make it into our mainframe.”

Heavy’s eyes closed as he tried to find the words. He finally settled on the easiest one. “Because they are us.”

“‘They are us?’ And what does that mean, precisely?”

“What I said.”

“Maybe I can clarify.” The BLU Engineer walked up the the door, biting her lip as the gentle shaking of paper betrayed the tremor in her hands. “Any of ya’ll familiar with many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics?”

“Yeah.” RED Engineer walked up to the door. “What about it?”

The BLU removed her hard hat and scratched her head. “Well, it’s a mite embarrasin’ that I didn’t think about this earlier but, uh, we appear to have something of an alternate reality crossin’ going on.”

RED looked at her for a moment, then looked from Heavy and Medic to the giantess and frazzled looking doctor outside. “Tarnation. And you’re from Bee Cave?”

“Born and raised.”

“Grandpappy?”

“Radigan.”

“Hell.” He took off his own hard hat to run a hand over his scalp. Engineer looked up at Heavy. “I can honestly say I wasn’t expectin’ this when I got up this mornin’,”  
Heavy nodded in agreement and turned back to his counterpart.

“We will talk.”

The other Heavy nodded and turned to the demo-woman. “Remove charges.”

“So are we one big happy family now?”

Everyone looked over to the doorway to see the three missing mercenaries. BLU Sniper and her Scout stood there with RED’s Scout, hogtied and with his cap shoved in his mouth as a gag, slung over her shoulder. Slinging him to the ground with a grunt, she tipped up the edge of her slouch hat to look at the others.

“What’d we miss?”

***

The two groups sat on opposite sides of the briefing room. On one side were the men, still nursing wounded egos. Scout sulked in the corner after having tossed his cap down the laundry shoot. On the other side were the women, torn between tense and tired. Scout was on a bench with Medic deploying small bursts of the Medi-Gun to offset the purple bruises that had started to bloom across her back.

Only the Pyros seemed to be entertained by having a newfound twin and were occupied at the foot of the long meeting table by crayons that the RED had produced from somewhere.

“Engineer.” Spy gestured towards the Texan. “Please, illuminate us.”

“Well, it’s like Heavy said; we ain’t got eighteen unique individuals here. We’ve got two variants each of nine. These ladies have somehow dropped into our backyard from an alternate reality.” He looked over at his counterpart. “So, how’d you manage it?”

“Teleporter.” BLU shrugged . “And a lot of highly improvised calculations where I might have made a few generous estimations. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to work out the details.”

“A bit risky given the results, don’t you think?” Spy leaned forward in his chair.

“I will not have our tactics second guessed by a spy!” Soldier lurched forward slamming her hands on the table, sending Spy back in surprise.

“Eh now.” Demo pulled her back, “The spook canna know, John.”

The engineer shrugged. “Given the alternative, it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“What is ‘alternative.’” Heavy asked. “To leave everything you have requires much.”

Engineer looked down, not quite sure where to start. BLU Spy came up behind her and rested her hands on her friend’s shoulders. “The robots came. That is what happened.”

“Robots?”

“Oui. As it turns out, at least where we are from, there just so happens to be a third Mann brother. A rather little repulsive troll of a man who felt that he was owed something by the world.” She pulled a drag on her cigarette. “So he decided to take it, and used his robot army to do so.”

“They came so quick…” Engineer’s voice dropped to a whisper. “We didn’t have a prayer.”

“Somehow they targeted the respawn systems.” Medic got up from the bench and walked over to join Heavy. “After that was gone, half of the teams were obliterated within the first few days. They came in the hundreds, like locusts!”

“Shock and awe.” Solder added. “Overwhelming force.”

“The teleporter was the last resort. If I hadn’t tried, we were as good as dead.” Engineer’s voice hitched, and Spy gave her shoulders a squeeze. “They were stormin’ the control room when I put it down.”

A weight descended on the room.

“Is your aim to find a way back?” Spy finally ventured, breaking the silence. Engineer just shrugged her shoulders.

“I threw it down on a wing and a prayer. I don’t rightly know if I could do it again.”

“And why bother?” Scout muttered from the bench. “There ain’t nothin’ worth goin’ back for, anyway.”

“Scout…”

“I’m serious, Del!” Scout jumped up, “Boston is GONE! My home is GONE! Gray fuckin’ wiped out half of Mass off the face of the map as a goddamned warm up for his pissin’ contest! And you think he’s gonna just stop there? Like fuckin’ hell he is! There ain’t gonna be shit to go back to for any of us!”

“But there is nothing for us here, either.” Spy walked over to the younger mercenary and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t fucking give me that! You were about to roll over before Del got us out there!” Scout knocked Spy’s hands away. “At least here we don’t have to worry about being murdered in our sleep by some robot Frankenstein.”

The REDs watched the drama in front of them.

“This is a… delicate situation.” Medic finally ventured.

Spy nodded. “Indeed. Miss Pauling will need to be informed.”

“Rather cold.”

“Reality tends to be that way, Docteur.”

“They should stay.” The Russian’s declaration was quiet but firm. “They do not know what they want. Need time.”

Spy steepled his fingers. The Administrator would certainly notice if supply requisitions increased. “The logistics…”

“Forget the bloody logistics.” Sniper dropped off his perch to join the others. “Be a bloody human being instead of a spook for once. I’m with Heavy on this.”

“It is my job to remember the ‘bloody logistics,’ bushman.” Spy shot back. “I have no strict objections to the idea. But, Miss Pauling will still need to be notified.” 

“Is decided then.” Heavy got up and walked around the table.

Scout was still facing down Spy, her body tense and trembling. The Russian’s hand gripped the young woman’s shoulder. She looked up with a start, and Heavy saw the emotion in her eyes. It was the gaze of someone who had been aged beyond their years through hurt and loss.

He had seen it before in the eyes of his own sisters.

“Stay. At least for now. Your loss, it is new and hurts. Settle that first, then discuss other things.” He dropped down on a knee to bring himself to closer to Scout’s eye level.  
“You are safe here.”

Scout choked back a sob and buried her face her hand. “I didn’t get a chance to say goodby before…” The words trailed off, her jaw clenching as she felt the tears welling and god damnit she wasn’t going to cry!

A large arm wrapped around her and pulled her into a hug. “Eto budet khorosho, malyshka*.”

Scout didn’t know what he had said, but whatever it was, god she wanted to believe it.  
\----------------------  
*It will be alright, little one.


	7. Chapter 7

Soldier sighed as she leaned her forehead against the cool tiles of the showers. Water trickled over her shoulders, running down her body to carry away at least a week’s worth of dust, blood and grime. She had never been particularly fastidious about grooming; worrying about chipping a nail or your mascara running was for civilians. But right now the warm water felt good. 

An occasional luxury was allowable when on liberty.

A few strands of hair dropped into her eyes and she swept them back with a mental note to cut it as soon as she was able. To easily grabbed. It was a weakness that she would not allow.

Footsteps splashed behind her. “Enjoy’n yerself, love?” Demo pressed up against her back and pressed a quick kiss against her shoulder “Nice to not have ye tastin’ of the field for a change.” Soldier grunted a response as Demo replaced the warmth of the water with her body, arms wrapping around the stouter woman’s body. They stood under the cascading water for a few more minutes, simply enjoying the feel of each other.

“Tammy…”

“Hmmm?”

“You’re out of uniform.”

“Aye.” Soldier felt the smile against her neck.

***

“Inge, your hair is so messy.”

“It’s fine, Schatz.”

“Come here.”

Medic sat down with a huff in front of Heavy on the mattress. Drawing her knees up under the oversized t-shirt she wore while her actual clothing was being washed, she leaned back and let Heavy do her work. Large hands pulled back the mass of black hair that was starting to frizz out as it was slowly drying after their shower. Gentle fingers made their way through the strands, working out what would eventually become tangled snarls if left unattended. After a few minutes Medic’s posture relaxed as she started to give in to the soothing touch.

With three little sisters, this was a familiar task for the Russian. A comfort that allowed her mind to rest and let her simply be in the moment with the woman she loved.

She picked up the comb and carefully started to part Medic’s hair. “What Scout said today?”

Medic sighed at the unspoken implications. “It’s probably the truth. Mann won’t stop.” 

“So you would stay here?”

“There is nothing for me there now. All that I had in the world was at 2Fort.” 

Heavy’s hands stilled for a moment. She placed the comb down and picked up one of the parts, slowly splitting them and plaiting them together. “My family back in Russia.”

“If you went back, then there would be something for me to return for.” Medic turned to look over her shoulder. “We go together, ja?”

Heavy smiled. “Da. We go together, Doktor.”

***

Pyro skipped down the hall in their new RED suit. Spy had insisted that they let the RED Engineer take theirs to get cleaned, and they had agreed since it had been a while. And it did smell a little like raw sewage.The other Pyro had been very nice about the whole thing, especially since they only had the two. All they had asked was if Balloonasurus could have a sleepover with Balloonicorn. It sounded like a fair trade. They could always snuggle up next to Scout if it was scary that night

As they made their way back to the spare supply room that had been designated as the team’s temporary bunk, something jostled around in their backpack. As they stopped, the backpack fluttered around again.

Oh yeah… They probably should tell Medic about that. In all of the excitement, they had completely forgotten.

***

“We will have to see if we can get to a town at some point.” Spy fussed with her hair in the small shaving mirror that she had pulled out of the supply box that the REDs had provided. “That Mann Co. soap is going to do awful things to my skin.”

Sniper rolled her eyes as she cleaned her rifle. “Shouldda thought about that before you decided to become a mercenary in the middle of the bloody desert.” 

Spy threw a glare in the Australian’s direction as she placed the mirror back in the box and reclined on the mattress. “I did. I just did not plan for being transported to another place in space and time.”

“Woudda thought someone like you kept backup beauty supplies in that kit of yours.”

“I am not completely vain.” Spy propped her head up as she looked at the lanky woman. “Just mostly. But you bring up a good point.” 

“That ya ain’t gonna be dolled up all nice a pretty for us?” Engineer laughed from her spot nearby. “Shame.”

“I suppose we all must make sacrifices.” Spy smiled before hesitating for a moment. “How is Scout?”

Engineer looked over at the young woman curled up next to her. “Dead to the world.” She watched the even rise and fall of Scout’s chest before softly ruffling the still-damp hair that spread across the pillow in every direction. “Lord knows the poor kid needs the rest. We all do.”

“Think we need to do watches?” Sniper put together the last attachments to her rifle before setting it near her bed. “Or you think we can trust ‘em?”

“I think we’ll be okay. At least for tonight.”

“Hrm.” Sniper lay back, head cradled in her hands. “That’ll be a nice change.

The door at the front of the room creaked open, drawing everyone’s attention. When the black mask poked in, there was a moment of confusion before a happy “Huddah!” identified them as their own. The now red-clad Pyro skipped over to where Heavy and Medic were seated and plopped themselves in front of the doctor. They pulled their backpack of and held it out.

Medic took the bag in her hands with a confused look on her face. “And what am I to do with this?”

“Murhph!”

When the doctor didn’t move, Pyro reached around and unzipped the backpack and pulled it open. Medic looked inside and saw a balled up towel that was… Moving? Taking the bag back, they took out the towel and presented it to the woman.

Carefully taking the bundle into her hands, Medic unwrapped the cloth and gasped. 

“Aemilia!”

As the towel was pulled back, a white ball of feathers. A small head popped out, black eyes looking first in one direction than other. When they finally focused on the woman in front of them, the bird let out a weak but happy sounding coo.

Medic looked from the bird and the back to Pyro a few times before a small giggle escaped her and she pulled the smaller mercenary into a hug. “Pyro, you wonderful insane fire-starter!” 

Pyro giggled. They liked seeing everyone happy.

***

“Miss Pauling.”

“Hello, Spy. It’s a little late for a report, isn’t it?” The voice on the other end of the line sounded like it had just woken up. “Wait, did Scout do something stupid again?”

“Non. But there is a rather important matter that we need to discuss. Would you be able to come to the base tomorrow?”

“Let’s see.” There was the sound of paper flipping. “I have to pick up a shipment of lye in the morning, but after that I don’t have anything that can’t be pushed off.”

“That would be fine.”

“Spy, what is it? Seriously, do I need to be out there now?”

Gloved fingers drummed against the desk. Miss Pauling spoke for the Administrator, so this had to be handled delicately. If the new arrivals were hidden, the consequences would not be good. Miss Pauling had to be informed and then they could focus on what needed to be done. “Everything will keep until you get here.” 

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Then came a tired sigh.

“Call me if the situation changes.”


	8. Chapter 8

The New Mexico desert was a blur as Miss Pauling blazed her way towards the RED Compound. She’d been on edge ever since Spy’s call the night before, and she’d rushed through the morning job list as quickly as she could in order to find out what was going on. Spy was a capable mercenary, and one she could trust with the daily workings of the team. Despite his assurances to the contrary that the matter could wait until she arrived, she was still nervous.

As she approached the secret turn off, she did a quick check to ensure that she was alone. Thankfully there was no one else on the lonely stretch of road and she pulled back the trompe l'oeil drop cloth and gently wheeled the moped inside.

Spy stepped out of the shadows as she entered, his face momentarily illuminated by the flame from his lighter. “Miss Pauling. We’ve been expecting you.” 

“Right.” She took off her helmet and left it on the moped and gave her skirt a quick dusting as Engineer slipped through the door that lead to the base interior. “What’s so important that you had to call me at one in the morning last night?”

Engineer gave Spy a sour look. “Really?”

Spy ignored the man. “We have some visitors to the base.” 

“Visitors? What do you mean, ‘visitors’? You can’t just have unauthorized people on base, Spy! The Administrator would kill you! And then probably me!”

“Which is why I felt is was best that you be informed. The manner in which our guests arrived was, shall we say, a bit unorthodox.” He finally looked over at Engineer. “Would you be so kind as to fill Miss Pauling in on the details?”

Engineer took off his hard hat. “Yer gonna wanna sit down for this one, m’am.”

***

Medic slowly became aware of being touched. Sometime during the night a hand had slipped under the borrowed t-shirt, and now those warm fingers were gently stroking up and down her body.

“Dobroye utro.” Heavy whispered, giving Medic a squeeze.

Humming happily, Medic rolled over and reached to pull Heavy down for a kiss. 

“Hey! Some of us gotta watch this, you know!”

Both women winced. “Someday Schatz, we will once again have a room of our own.”

Heavy grinned. “You promise such grand things, Inge.” Then she pulled the blanket up and over them to give her doctor a proper good morning kiss.

“I’m gonna barf.” Scout scowled from her mattress. 

Spy stretched her arms before running her fingers through her impeccably tousled hair. “Scout, I didn’t think you were such a prude.” 

“I’m not! It’s just… It’s like watchin’ my ma make out with someone!”

The rogue let out an honest laugh and just shook her head in bemusement.

Across the room the rest of the team slowly roused themselves from the best night of sleep they’d had since Mann started his war against the world. The small box of toiletries that the RED team had provided the night before was again broken out so that everyone could start preparing for the day. 

Pyro sat in the corner working on picture of Balloonicorn and Balloonasarus playing on a rainbow. They hoped the sleepover went well.

“Geeze, you’d think that one of those guys would actually use a hairbrush.” Scout grumbled as she struggled against the snarls in her hair. 

“Did any of ‘em look like they’d actually need it?” Sniper pulled the smaller mercenary to the ground snatched the comb out of her hand. Settling down behind her, Sniper slowly started untangling the mess. 

“And speaking of which, wonder what time laundry delivery comes ‘round?” Engineer got up and walked over to the door. She poked her head out into the hall and found a basket sitting just to the side of the door. Inside were their clothes, washed and pressed. On the top of the laundry was a note: _Food in the kitchen._

Engineer smiled. “Looks like there’s some gentlemen here after all.”

***

“So let me make sure that I have this all straight. Last night a BLU spy snuck in here past all of your defences and almost got into the central computer.” Miss Pauling paused to take a bite of a biscuit.

“I think you missed the part where she was apprehended…” Spy cut in.

“AND then escaped, sending you all on a wild goose chase with ultimately wound up with the entire team getting blown up and sent to respawn, where you were trapped by having your own explosives being used against you.”

“Not all of us.” Scout pouted from his seat on the counter.

“Right. You got knocked out and carried around like a sack of potatoes.”

“Of course it sounds bad if you put it that way!”

“It was a miserable showing from all of us!” Soldier barked. 

“Aw, I wouldn’t give ‘em too hard a time about it. We’re wicked awesome.”

The new voice caused Miss Pauling to look over at the door. Then back at Scout. Then back to the door to look at the almost double image that she saw there. Outside of a mussy ponytail, it was almost like looking at doubles.

A slip of BLU entered the room and picked up one of the biscuits. Spy sat herself down on the table and looked down at the confused looking woman in purple. “And I presume you are Pauling?”

“Uh, yes? I mean, yes! Miss Pauling. And you are Spy?”

“A logical conclusion.” She smiled as she twisted around to pluck up a small jar of strawberry preserves and a knife. “I presume my RED counterpart has informed you as to our circumstances?” The question was casual, more of a ‘coffee or tea’ type than a ‘did you get the lowdown on our being transported across time and space’ type.

“Yes. It’s an… Impressive story.”

The other women slowly made their way into the room. Engineer shooed the RED team away to make room at the table, Pyro clearing away their dirty dishes as the Texan loaded up fresh plates for the newcomers. Spy pulled off her gloves and lay them across her leg to turn her attention to spreading the preserves across the biscuit. “And what are your thoughts?”

Miss Pauling was very aware of having eighteen sets of eyes on her. She picked at her own biscuit. “I need to discuss this with the Administrator. Anything done, it’s going to be coming out of RED’s and her pocket.” 

“Quite fair.” Spy set the preserve jar down and took a bite. “Mmm. Délicieuse. Merci, mon petit chue.” She smiled across the table at Engineer, who suddenly turned a lovely shade of red. 

BLU Engineer rolled her eyes. “You’re gonna give the poor man a conniption.”

“What? I was merely being courteous.” 

“So that is where we are.” RED Spy walked back up to the table. “Miss Pauling, please let the Administrator know we await her decision on the matter.”

***

“It is a rather interesting situation, Heavy.” Medic tucked the last file back into the cabinet, straightening the tab to his complete satisfaction before turning back to his companions. Heavy sat on the examination table with Archimedes happily pecking at the bag of sunflower seeds that the large man was nice enough to share. “Although the implications are fascinating. Imagine if these women are us, but for a small difference in chromosomes. Do you know what that means?”

“Means you have twin. Does not seem so strange.”

Medic frowned. As much as he loved his Russian, Misha wasn’t always the best person to discuss scientific theory with. “This is a bit more interesting than that.” He walked over and gently stroked the top of Archimedes’ head. “Even with twins there is some variance. With these women there may literally be a single genetic difference. That means that there is almost no difference between you, a giant bear of a man, and that slightly smaller bear of a woman.”

“Ha! Heavy is biggest bear.”

Medic hid a smile. Sometimes Misha’s less than complete of the English language, particularly when it came to the more… informal terms, was quite endearing. 

They had come to the lab directly after breakfast. Medic had known that he’d need to reorganize his files, but hadn’t expected to also need to wrangle his doves as well. They’d been nestled high in the beams of his operating theater. Not horribly inconvenient, but they tended to prefer nesting in the inner workings of his fixed Medi-Gun station if he wasn’t there to shoo them out.

There was a light knock at the door and the two men looked over to see the other Medic and Heavy, both looking much better for a good night’s rest and a full breakfast. “I hope we are not interrupting anything.” 

“Nein, nein. Just finishing a little cleaning.” Medic scooped up Archimedes. 

“Ah, the little rock dove”

Medic paused. “Yes. Do you keep them as well?”

“Yes. I have, rather, had a nice little kit at one time.” Medic’s face fell a little before shaking it off and smiling at the other doctor. “And in fact, that is why I came to see you. I was hoping that I could beg a favor.”

“And what sort of favor might that be?”

“I need to borrow some food, if you have it to spare.”

She turned back to her own Heavy and reached up to the large woman’s shoulders. When she turned around, she quickly took a few steps to close the space between the doctor and herself. Medic looked down at the woman’s hands to see a fluffy white bird peering up at him. 

“This is Aemilia.” Medic opened her hands allowing the bird to step out onto her fingers. “Pyro somehow managed to spirit her away from the RED base when we were retreating.”

Aemilia looked around, bright black eyes taking in the world around her. She cooed happily and fluffed out the collar of feathers around her neck. This place looked quite like home! 

“A Jacobin?” Medic leaned forward and adjusted his glasses. Archimedes hopped down Medic’s arm, his little blood spattered head turning one way and then another to take in the sight of this new bird. “She’s a lovely specimen.” Archimedes seemed to coo in agreement.

“I wish I could take credit. She was a gift.”

“Indeed?”

“Doctor is easy for birthday.” Heavy reached out and Aemilia hopped onto the large woman’s hand. “She likes birds. Just find bird as pretty as Doktor.”

Medic and Heavy gave each other a quick glance, as the other doctor blushed and quickly redirected the conversation. “But as I was saying, with our sudden departure I had no way to prepare to care for her.” 

“Well, I could hardly refuse to help such a beautiful specimen.” Medic turned and gestured for his counterpart to follow. He showed her where the seed was kept and offered a space in his dovecote. Heavy gently tossed Ameilia into the air, and she fluttered over to the doctor, who gently placed her inside, the bird happily cooing. 

One Medic said thank you to the other, and the women took their leave to join their comrades. After they left, Medic and Heavy just stood in silence for a few moments. “She was very… free about that.” Medic finally said. Heavy nodded in agreement. Had the women just assumed, or were they just that comfortable with the fact? Their own relationship was not a secret, per se, but it wasn’t something talked about openly.

To be able to finally do so, even with a dimensional variant of themselves, did hold a certain appeal.

***

It was nice to be in a fully functional workshop again. Engineer let out a happy sigh as she looked at the tools that were neatly spaced along the workbench, small projects here and there that were in various stages of completion, and a few sketches and diagrams taped up to a chalkboard in the corner.

RED moved a few broken sentries to the side of the main work area and pulled out his old Mark 1 teleporters. Fully functioning units, but ones that had been put on ice once he’d figured out adjustments to improve range and reduce the weight. “Now I know ya’ll haven’t figured out what the plan is gonna be quite yet.” He dropped the exit unit with a clang. “But I reckon it wouldn’t hurt to at least try and figure out how ya’ll got here. If we can do that, we should be able to reverse it to get you back if that’s what the pan wind us being.”

BLU nodded. “A good a plan as any right now. I prefer having something to work on, anyway.”

“And with twenty-two PhDs between us, we outta be able to figure this little problem out.”

“Twenty-three.”

“Beg pardon?”

She looked at him with a sheepish grin. “I’ve got twelve. Food science. Daddy wanted me to have something to fall back on if the whole engineering and mercenary thing didn’t work out. Added a year, but I can do wonders in the kitchen.”

RED chuckled and shook his head. “Well then, Doctor, how about you grab that exit unit and we’ll get crackin’.”

The teleporter setup was quick. Both were intimately familiar with the technology and had them spinning in no time. Tossing a few random objects got them calibrated and soon both were standing at the chalkboard writing out different theoretical equations, making small tweaks to one or both of the teleporters and then repeating. 

After about an hour, Scout wondered in. “Hey Engie!” He called out from the doorway before hopping over the rails.

“What’s up, Scout? We’re kinda in the middle of something.”

“Yeah, well I’ll let you get back to your science fair in a minute. I just wanted to see if you’d figured out what’s goin’ on with my gun.”

“Oh, you mean that thing you got burned, dropped, detonated and crushed during that last skirmish?”

“Normal wear and tear, yeah.”

Engie walked over to his workbench and pulled out the scattergun. “Here you go. Try not to get it blown up again.”

“No promises!” He laughed before turning to head back out the door, but pausing as he passed BLU. “Hey, question.”

She looked up from her calculations. “Yeah?” 

“So if we’re all chicks where you come from… Are they girl robots?”

“What?”

At the workbench, RED had to stifle a laugh. BLU looked over at him with a frown, but he held up a hand. “This could be an important question.”

She huffed and turned back to Scout. “Don’t be ridiculous! They’re boy robots, made from a rare element called vibranium. And let me tell you,” Her voice lowered as she leaned closer to Scout, “sometimes late at night they’re all a gal can think about.”

“Seriously?”

“Of course, I ain’t serious! These are damn murder-bots, not back massagers!” She whacked Scout with her hard hat for added emphasis.

RED looked down at his teleporters. “Now, that does bring up another problem.” BLU turned her attention back to him as Scout wandered off, rubbing his arm. 

“What’s that?”

“All of our teleporter theory is based on having an entrance and an exit. If we can get this to work, what’s to keep those robots from comin’ back on us?”


	9. Chapter 9

The Administrator was a shrewd woman, not given to hyperbole or exaggeration. That being said, she did have a flair for the dramatic. The corridor to the command room was ridiculously long by any measure, lit by stark spotlights glaring down from the ceiling, causing whoever walked through to constantly pass in and out of the deepest shadows imaginable. The hall led to a single door. Not a huge door, but reinforced to where it would likely shield anyone within from anything short of a direct nuclear blast.

Was it any wonder why Miss Pauling’s heart always felt like it was about to jackhammer out of her chest? 

“Come in, Miss Pauling.” 

Her hand jerked back from the handle. One of these days she was going to figure out how the Administrator did that. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed and the handle and walked on in.

“Security cameras.”

Miss Pauling stopped cold. “Excuse me, m’am?”

“Security cameras, Miss Pauling. I presume that is the answer to your question.” The Administrator slowly turned in her chair to fix her gaze on the younger woman. “Was I mistaken?”

“No! No, you weren’t!”

“I didn’t think so.” The chair swiveled back to face the tower of monitors that she had been observing just a moment before. Miss Pauling took a few more steps forward, and gazed up. 

The monitor wall was always something to see. Dozens, probably bordering on over a hundred, monitors of various sizes enclosed the far side of the room. Feeds from every inch of both the RED and BLU bases were displayed. Most showed empty rooms, but on a few there were flashes of life as one mercenary or another wandered into view. It always felt a bit voyeuristic if she was honest with herself. Especially considering that there was a camera in every room.

Every. Room. 

There would never be enough bleach to erase all that she’d seen.

With a few flicks at the control board, the wall of light glowed with eighteen faces. “I presume you will now be explaining the unscheduled respawn cycle and nine unauthorized women at RED?”

“It’s kind of a, well, incredible explanation.”

“Would that be the ‘unbelievable’ or the ‘astonishing’ meaning of the word, Miss Pauling?”

“Um. Yes?”

Light rapping of fingernails against cold metal echoed from in front of the chair.

“According to the engineer, there’s been a...” She flipped open her note pad. “A cross dimensional access point to an alternative reality. Basically we have visitors from another dimension.”

“That explains the women.”

“And there was a little ‘scuffle’ before they figured everything out.”

“I always told the Manns that we should have hired more women in the first place.” An exasperated sigh escaped the older woman. “Do we know what they want?”

Miss Pauling shook her head. Supposed there was probably a monitor in front of the Administrator that still showed her on camera anyway. “From everything they’ve told us, they’re refugees.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, ma'am. Something about a third Mann brother and a robot apocalypse. They didn’t really get into too much details with me, but I’m sure if...” Her voice trailed off as the chair slowly turned back around.

“A third Mann brother?”

The Administrator was an unflappable woman. More than any mercenary Miss Pauling had ever met, she had nerves of steel and a will of iron. But she almost swore that she saw a trace of, not fear, but certainly at least a bit of trepidation. Which still scared her half to death.

“Yes, a third Mann brother. And a robot apocalypse.”

Leaning forward in her chair, the Administrator beckoned her to step closer. “What else did they say?”

She flipped a few more pages in her notebook, passing over the dozens that were filled with the equations that Engineer had scribbled out as he tried to explain what could have been summed up in “dimension hopping mercenary women.”

“There weren’t too many more details. But the gist was that this other Mann brother had some sort of robot army that was overrunning the country. Something about part of the East Coast being wiped from the face of the planet, and that they barely escaped with their lives.”

“Are you sure that there’s wasn’t anything else?”

“Only that they seemed split on whether or not they wanted to try to find a way back.”

“Try?”

“However they got here, it was a fluke. A Hail Mary move.”

“Miss Pauling.” The Administrator leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes and steepling her fingers in her lap. “How long have you worked for me?”

“Four years, ma’am.”

“And in that time, have you ever known me to be untruthful?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Then listen closely to what I’m about to tell you. Do not let them find a way to repeat the process. Do not let them find a way back to whatever dimension they came from.”

“Administrator?”

“I am quite serious, Miss Pauling. If the technology to navigate between dimensions is, for the lack of a better word, perfected, then there is no telling what might happen. But whatever does, I can assure you that it will not be good.” The chair swung back around as the Administrator went back to observing the faces on the screens. “Keep them here Miss Pauling. Whatever it takes. Keep. Them. Here.”

“Yes… Yes ma’am.”

“That is all, Miss Pauling. Keep me informed of any developments.” 

She knew when she had been dismissed. The would be no use trying to get any more information out of the woman. Leaving the room, she started turning over ideas in her head. 

Back inside the observation room, the Administrator watched the flickers of lives that only lived for the moment. With the possible single exception of the spies, none of the mercenaries had any true thought beyond their next paycheck. No long term plans. No final goal.

She had been playing this game since before many of the men in her employ had even been born. Subtle mechanizations behind the scenes had so far kept the Manns under control, but this third Mann… She had hoped that there would be more time.

If Miss Pauling obeyed, perhaps she could still avert the worst possible outcome.

A scurrying noise from the corner of the room suddenly grabbed her attention. Rising out of her chair, she scanned the perimeter of the room. Nothing. Or was it? Her eyes narrowed. 

In the shadows, a small mechanical spider scuttled off into the darkness to deliver a payload of information to its master.


	10. Chapter 10

Miss Pauling sat in the Teufort Truck Stop, looking out at the desert beyond the highway. As she idly poked at some of the greasiest eggs she’d ever seen, she thought over the Administrator’s words.

_Keep them here._

She knew better than to press for answers. Questioning the Administrator never got you anything other than an odd feeling of paranoia that lingered for days. She had her orders. She just had to decide how to carry them out.

Looking over the scribbles in her notepad, she made a quick assessment of the facts as she knew them. From what Spy and Engineer had told her, some of the women would likely be more easily persuaded, but she was still too light on specifics to make a definitive plan. 

And that’s why she was here today. 

And why Spy and Scout currently found themselves in the cab of Engineer’s truck; Spy boredly gazing out the window at the passing countryside with Scout in the middle of the bench seat. In the bed was RED’s Scout, who had hopped in at the last minute, trying to evade Soldier for some unknown infraction.

Engineer’s hands gripped at the wheel; he had better things to do than play chauffeur. He and BLU had been on the edge of something when they’d gotten the call from Miss Pauling to grab a few of the ladies and meet her in town. But he was the only one with a vehicle big enough for a crowd who was still welcome in Teufort. 

Sniper had been giving the citizens a wide berth since ‘the incident.’

They’d been on the road for a half hour before Scout was knocking on the back window of the cab. Engineer tossed a quick look at the Scout next to him, jerking his head. She slid the small window open, and a bucktoothed head shoved its way in.

“So, uh, where we goin’?”

“Town.” Came the monosyllabic response. 

“And what are we doin’?”

“Shopping.”

“Shoppin’ for what?”

“Stuff.”

Scout leaned into the cab, poking the other Scout in the head and earning a death glare. “Chatty, aren’t ya, Engie.”

“I’m tryin’ to drive. You might not have noticed, but we’re outside respawn range.”

“Would you sit down, child!” Spy pulled her own Scout out of elbow range. “I have narrowly avoided death at least twice in as many days. I will NOT have meet my end on the side of a desert road in a pickup truck!”

Engineer glanced over his shoulder with a grin. “Miss Pauling’s gonna be there.”

Scout let out a huff, but was quiet for the rest of the ride.

***

The truck pulled up infront of the Teufort General Store. Outside the diner they saw a purple moped and a familiar brunette head could be seen through the window. Engineer cut the engine and everyone piled out. There were a few wary looks as they stretched their legs after the right. Most of the townsfolk were more than familiar with the sight of a RED or BLU mercenary. More than familiar enough to know that they didn’t want to be around when the two mixed.

Scout sauntered over to the diner’s window and rapped on the glass, catching Miss Pauling’s attention. She gave the group a wave and gestured to the waitress.

“Good ‘ol Teufort.” Scout crossed her arms and looked up and down the street before scuffing her shoe against the curb. “Nice to see that it’s the same backwoods hick town as it was back home.”

Spy glanced down, tapping some ash to the ground. “Scout…”

The young woman had been quiet since they settled down at the RED base. Aside from an occasional comment, the last two days had been surprisingly bereft of her normal energy. Under most circumstances, Spy would welcome the break; however, now she was starting to become slightly concerned. 

“Yeah, yeah. No insulting the locals.”

Spy caught Engineer’s eyes from the other side of the truck, and he gave her a knowing look.

A moment later Miss Pauling emerged from the diner. “Engie, glad you could take the time to help me out. And Spy, Scout and… other Scout.”

“Heeeey, Miss Pauling.”

“Uh, hi, Scout.” Clapping her hands together, she turned to face the women. ”So, since you’ll be staying with us for a little while, the Administrator allotted some extra funds to RED’s operating budget to cover some extra supplies.”

“How kind.” Spy lit up a fresh cigarette. “And how will be expected to justify the expenditure?”

“Pardon?”

Spy smiled. “Miss Pauling, we both know that the Administrator doesn’t run a home for wayward mercenaries. We will be expected to earn our keep, est-ce pas?”

“She’s not entirely heartless.”

Spy simply raised an eyebrow.

Miss Pauling sighed. “Look, she gets that you’re not really here by choice. I’m sure there might be one or two jobs that she needs some help on that she can’t spare the guys for. Nothing that you shouldn’t be able to handle.”

“I am not in the habit of entering a deal without knowing what I’m getting into, Miss Pauling.”

“Spy, can’t ONE good thing happen to us for a change?” Scout finally butted in, grabbing the older mercenary by the arm and pulling her down to whisper in her ear. “I’ve been wearing the same pair of underwear for the past month, Medic’s glasses are being held together with gaffer tape, and I’m pretty sure RED’s Spy is going to be missing those cigarettes. Please, can’t we just do this without trying to find the angle?”

“We can’t just walk into something blind-”

“We work for the Administrator here, we work for him back home. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“Because we may not be here long enough.”

“Spy, I’m not… I can’t…”

“Hey.” Scout jerked as she felt a touch on her shoulder. She spun around to see Miss Pauling, her hand pulled slightly back, and biting her lip nervously. “Spy and Engineer told me about Boston. I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose something like that.”

Scout’s jaw clenched and Miss Pauling was struck at how different she seemed from the Scout she knew. There was no bravado, no posturing, just a woman with loss in her eyes.

“Uh, thanks.” Scout let go of Spy’s arm to run her hand through her own hair. “Stuff like that just happens in a robo-apocalypse.”

Miss Pauling reached back out and gave Scout’s shoulder a squeeze. “Still stinks.” 

Scout let out a noise that almost resembled a laugh. “Yeah. It does.” She looked over at Miss Pauling, a small smile playing on her face.

“Is this some kinda moment we’re having here or somethin?” Spy, Scout and Miss Pauling turned to see Scout with a mildly confused look on his face.

“No, Scout. It was a moment, and now it’s past.” Miss Pauling turned and gestured towards Teufort General Store. “How about you keep Engie company? We’re going to have a little girl time.”


	11. Chapter 11

The Pyros sat on the ground in the drainage tunnels underneath the base. The night before hadn’t been very good. As it turned out, the slumber party between Balloonicorn and Balloonasaurus hadn’t gone well at all. It had started with Balloonicorn flaunting its horn, which Balloonasaurus hadn’t been too pleased about. Then Balloonicorn flaunted their tail, stating in no uncertain terms that it was actually useful instead of just being a bow tie for a butt.

The two of them really had a lot in common, so it was just sad that they hadn’t hit it off.

And that’s why they were down here. They had spent the last day reading every sappy romance novel that Demo thought that RED hadn’t known about and were trying to put together a plan to show the two balloonimals how perfect they were for each other. Papers were spread over the floor and taped to the walls, each containing a brightly colored element of their plan. It really shouldn’t be too hard; they had everything they needed except for the weasels.

BLU was hanging the final page when something caught their attention down one of the tunnels. They paused and took a few steps forward, straining out over the railing that to see what was making a light skittering noise.

“Murph?” RED noticed them looking and put down the crayons. “Eeuaghafvada?”

They turned back around and shrugged their shoulders. “Mrr hurrdurr hm hurr.” They had seen Engie when they first came down. The BLU Texan had been muttering at the chalkboard in the workshop, not happy that the other Engie had been asked to go shopping with Miss Pauling. But as they had made their way into the tunnels, she had been heading up towards the kitchen.

The skittering was getting further away from them, moving towards the workshop. They looked at each other for a moment before silently picking up their axes and creeping into the tunnel. Water lapped at their boots as they moved forward, feet never breaking the surface. As they entered the workshop, the skittering stopped. Moving into the room, they looked around. Nothing seemed out of place.

“Mmmphya harrgh mrgha hrghgph.” RED gestured at the workbench and then toward Medic’s bread truck. BLU nodded and walked over and looked under the vehicle before circling around it while RED checked under the bench, getting down on their knees to get a good look behind the spare sentry and dispenser parts. Seeing nothing, they got back up as BLU approached, shaking their head.

“Nhuden?”

“Nhuden.”

Something was still off. And Pyro knew “off.”

They went to go find Engie.

***

Scout stood, her body tense as her eyes followed the flickering movement. Every so often a muscle would twitch, pumping a fist or shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “Come on, come on, come on!” She watched the man running as if his life depended on it, diving into the dirt in front of him.

“Safe!”

“WHOOOO!” 

A dozen pairs of eyes were suddenly on her as she remembered where she was and clamped her hand over her mouth.

“A little excited, eh kid?” She looked over to see the RED Scout leaning over the counter in front of the TV display area. 

“Don’t call me kid. I’m the same damn age you are.” She threw him a dirty look as he gave her a grin. “I just ain’t seen a game in a while, ‘cause of the whole end of the world thing.”

He had the decency to look a little abashed at that before switching the topic. “So where’re the others?” 

“Ditched ‘em after we took care of the clothes thing.” Scout turned her eyes back to the screen in front of her. “I”m missing whatever girl gene there is for shoppin’.”

“Eh, this is more interestin’ anyway.” Scout rounded the counter and looked at the screen as it flashed to a quick message from Ajax-O Cleaners. “Who’s playin’?”

“Yankees versus Red Sox.”

“Hot damn! I forgot that was today!” The screen flashed the score as it came back from its commercial break. “Oh ow.” He winced at the current 10 - 2, Yankees in the lead. “That’s lookin’ kinda brutal.”

“Hell, yeah, ‘cause the Yankees are the best baseball team ever.”

“Wow, I musta really misheard you. That was a really weird way to pronounce Red Sox.”

“Red Sox?” Scout snorted and laughed. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. Seriously.”

She looked from Scout to the screen and then back to Scout. “You might wanna be checking that scoreboard again, Soxie, ‘cause your boys… are… terrible.”

“Oh, and I’m sure being able to buy your wins ain’t got nothin’ to do with that?”

Scout brought her fingers to her forehead in an ‘L’, mimicking Soldier as she stuck out her tongue. “Sounds like loser talk to me.”

“You wanna say that one more time?”

“What is going on here!” A woman’s voice broke in, both Scouts looking over to see Miss Pauling, Spy and a very embarrassed looking Engineer. Looking from one Scout to the other, Miss Pauling suddenly got the feeling had arrived just before something turned nasty.

“You two are arguing over baseball teams?”

“YES!” They yelled back in unison.

Spy rolled her eyes. “Oh, mon Dieu…” 

Shaking his head, Engineer grabbed both Scouts by the backs of their shirts and drug them outside. Depositing them on the front porch, he rejoined Spy and Miss Pauling back inside to work out delivery details with the cashier; both he and Miss Pauling insisting that of course there wouldn’t be any massive vehicular damage this time. 

The Scouts found a bench and sat themselves down, both looking in opposite directions. 

“So, ah, did she talk about me?”

Scout looked over at her counterpart as he picked at a stray thread on his pants. He looked completely disinterested in his own question which, if he was anything like her, meant that he desperately wanted to know the answer.

“Nope.”

He shoved a wad of the fries in his mouth and sat himself down on the bench, slouching down.

“I’m gonna take a wild stab in the dark, and say you gotta thing for her?”

Scout made a sudden noise, choking a bit as he gulped the fries down. “That obvious?”

“We are kinda the same person, right?”

He looked over at her and sighed. “Yeah, I guess.” 

“Did you try a bucket of chicken? ‘Cause that would totally do it for me.”

“Nah.” Scout shook his head. “She’s a classy lady.”

Scout thought about that for a moment. Prim and proper with shiny black hair done in a practical but feminine bun, Miss Pauling was pretty unlike any of the girls she’d grown up with back in Boston. Not that she knew her that well, but if she was anything like the Pauling back home, she was smart and could read. She wore her glasses in that same kinda crooked way, but it looked a lot cuter on a girl.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” She finally answered. “Have you maybe asked Spy-?”

“Not happening.”

Scout almost giggled. “Sounds like there’s a story there.” A half-smile cracked his face and he shook his head. “I could, maybe, talk to her for you, if you want.”

He bit his lip, pausing a minute before responding. “You’d do that?”

She gave him a lopsided smile of her own. “We’re kinda like twins, right? Means we gotta stick together. Even if you do have terrible taste in baseball teams.”

Happy to do it. Sure.

A small bell rang as Engineer, Spy and Miss Pauling finally left the store with all arrangements having been made. “Time to move on out, partners.” Engie waved the Scouts on over and the group headed back to the truck and moped. As the mercenaries drove away, Miss Pauling did a quick mental tally of what she’d accomplished, reaching into her back to fish out her notebook to jot down a few notes before making her own way home.


	12. Chapter 12

Scout’s finger hovered over the button of the communications board. RED Spy had assured her that this was the fastest way to get in touch with Miss Pauling, a direct line to the small office where she was bound to be at this time of day. She’d promised Scout she’d talk to her, but there was a weird feeling in her gut about the whole thing.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed down on the call button and waited. A few moments later, the small screen lit up and Miss Pauling’s face appeared. 

“Oh hi, Scout!” She smiled and pushed her glasses up a little. “What I can I do for you? It’s a little late, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine! I, uh, just wanted to see if you had a few minutes to talk.”

An inscrutable look flashed across Miss Pauling’s face for a moment, but then she settled down into the seat. “Sure. It’s going to take a few minutes for the water to warm up anyway.”

“Making dinner?”

“No, that’s being provided by Swanson tonight and is currently in the oven.” Miss Pauling reached back and started pulling out hairpins and letting her hair fall loosely around her shoulders. “I’m waiting on the shower. Turned it on and the water was absolutely freezing. I’ve been after the super to do something about the water heater for a while, but for now I just get to wait.” She tousled her hair a bit. “You would not believe how dusty it gets riding around on a moped.”

Scout felt her face heat up a little at that thought.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

She looked cute with her hair down. So that’s what she said.

“Thanks. It’s just not a very practical look for work.” Miss Pauling smiled. “Don’t you run into trouble with that?”

“Nope!” Scout grabbed her ponytail and shoved it up under her hat, grinning. “No muss, no fuss. And if I ever feel like being a little girly, I just let Sasha play with it.”

“Sasha?”

Scout pulled her legs up under her and leaned back in her chair. “Heavy. She’s got little sisters, so I guess that means she was the family designated hair braider or something.”

“I have a hard time seeing you in braids.” Miss Pauling smiled and leaned forward in her own chair.  
“That would be because I wind up looking like Pippi Longstocking.”

“It’s the freckles, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah.”

They both giggled at that.

“Oh, uh… So there actually was a reason I was callin’.” 

“Hmm?”

“Well, when Scout and me were waiting for you guys today…”

A grimace crossed Miss Pauling’s face. “Scout, let me stop you right there. I’m pretty sure I know what you’re going to say.” She sighed and rested her chin on her hand. “Look. Scout is a nice guy and all-”

“Yeah! Well, except the whole Red Sox thing.”

“But he’s really not my type.”

“You sure about that? I mean, how much time have you spent with him outside of work?”

“Not quite what I meant.” She paused a moment to pull of her glasses. Lifting them up she looked through and pulled out a soft cloth to gently wipe the lenses. “In all honesty I’d rather date someone like you.”

Somewhere in the background a buzzer sounded. 

“And that would be dinner!” Miss Pauling popped out of the chair before leaning back in frame. “Nice talking with you, Scout! We should do this again some time!”

Then the screen went black.

***

The sound of flamethrowers was terrifying, even when coming from your own team.

Having them come from your workshop, doubly so. 

Hearing the familiar puffs of igniting gas, Engineer rushed down the hall, clutching his hard hat to his head. The two Pyros were dashing from one end of the room to the other, sending out small bursts of flame into every which way with BLU Engineer doing her best to chase them off. 

"What in tarnation is going on?!" 

BLU looked up as she got her arms around the RED Pyro, bouncing as the taller mercenary kept struggling along. "Gimmie a hand here!" 

Engie hopped down the last few steps to get in between the BLU Pyro and the teleporters that were still laid out on the floor. Pyro pulled up the end of their flamethrower with a surprised grunt. 

"Now can someone tell me what was going on here?" 

Both Pyros started to excitedly mumble, gesturing to the tunnel leading out and then to the corners of the workroom. 

"Now hold on, you know I can't understand you when you sutter!" 

BLU let go of her Pyro. "I was in the kitchen when these two came and grabbed me. Kept on chattering about something in the workshop. Then we got back in here and they started with the flamin' all over the place." 

Engineer’s jaw clenched. A few days ago he would have shrugged off the suggestion that someone could have been creeping around completely unseen as ridiculous. But that was before nine women dropped in from another reality. He looked over the equipment and workspaces. Nothing looked to be out of place. The teleporters still sat on their pads, all the papers that he and BLU had been scribbling on looked undisturbed. 

But he’d lived with spies long enough to know that looks could be deceiving.

***

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Slowly breathe out.

Fire.

The rifle crack thundered across the desert as the bottle in the distance shattered. 

“Not bad.”

Sniper turned to the RED standing next to her. Without saying a word, he leveled his own rifle and repeated the same motions, and sent a can flying.

“Not bad yerself.”

Sniper was surprised how easily it was to fall in with her RED counterpart. Even with her own team, she prefered to keep to herself. With the exception of Heavy, they all tended to talk too damn much. But this, just watching the sun starting to dip into the first minutes of dusk.

“Wanna take it back another 50 meters?”

“Sure. Should be enough light for one more round.”

RED picked up another six cans for the next round when Scout came around the side of the camper. “Heya… Sniper. Um, you got a minute?”

Sniper ejected the spent casing from the her gun. “This important, Roo? Finally getting some target practice in.”

Scout scratched the back of her head. “Kinda? I think.”

The Snipers looked at each other. “I’ll walk slow.” RED finally said, making his way down to move the crates and reset their improvised range.

“So.” Sniper looked at the young woman.

“Um… I think this qualifies as ‘boy trouble.’”

“Boy trouble?” Sniper let out a laugh. “There ain’t a bloke here that would be right for you.”

“No not for me. For Miss Pauling.”

“Not thinkin’ that’s gonna change my answer too much.”

Scout let out a sigh and turned away. “Maybe I should be talking to Engie about this.”

“Oy, now.” Sniper grabbed her shoulder and carefully turned her back around. The smile was gone from her face, and she bent down to meet Scout’s eyes. “Sorry, Roo. Didn’t realize that this was that kinda talk. What’s botherin’ ya?”

Scout was quiet for a moment, dropping her gaze to the ground. One hand pulled her mussy ponytail around and started fiddling with it. “So, today Scout and I get to talkin’. He’s got a thing for Miss Pauling.” She glanced up at Sniper, who just nodded for her to continue. “Guess he hasn’t worked up the nerve to tell her or somethin’, so I decide to be nice and tell him I’d talk to her for him.”

“Scouts gotta stick together?”

“That, and I figure he’s the closest thing I have to a brother anymore.” Scout shrugged before continuing. “So I get on the horn today and we have a nice chat. Turns out she’s not into him. Did the whole nice guy, just not for me routine.”

Sniper set her rifle down against the side of the camper. “Ouch. And now you’re trying to figure out how to break the news?”

“Nah, I got that. I’m just gonna tell him.”

“Then what’s the trouble?”

“Well,” Scout squirmed a little, “she said that she’d be more likely to be interested in someone like me.”

“So Miss Pauling’s a bit sapphic, eh?”

“What?” Scout gave her a look. “You know I don’t speak French.”

“She has lesbotic tendencies.”

“That some sort of scientific thing? ‘Cause that sounds sciency.”

“Fancies sheilas?” Sniper rolled her eyes. “She likes women?”

“Oh!” Red crept up into Scout’s face. “Yeah! I mean, I think that’s what she was saying.”

“And?”

“And I’m feelin’ kinda bad that I’m not feelin’ bad about it.”

A grin crossed Sniper’s face. “Is that because you might be takin’ a bit of a shine to her yourself?”

“Um. Maybe?” She absent mindedly stuck the end of her ponytail in her mouth. “I donno. I mean, I ain’t never really liked anyone before.”

“No?” Sniper tilted her head. “No one?”

“Well, there was Theresa O’Mally in 10th grade, but it wasn’t… like that.” The red on Scout’s face deepened a little. “We were just friends, and anyway she had a thing for one of my brothers.”

Sniper wrapped her arm around the young woman. “Roo, I’m gonna tell you right now that I love ya like the kid sister I never had. But you’re gonna have to try hard to find someone who gives less of a shit about this sort of thing than me. Go talk with Sasha and Inge. If there’s anyone who can offer you some advice worth following, it’s them.”

***

“And why have we been called here?” RED Spy pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and held it out to the nearest Pyro for a quick light. “The Administrator is requesting the end of the month reports, and with our new additions, the length of them has doubled.”

“I did offer to assist.” BLU Spy leaned back against a half-built sentry. “But I confess my curiosity as well.”

The Pyros raised their hands, both eager to repeat the story they had told to the Engineers earlier. 

Engineer ignored them. “There’s a concern that the workshop has been compromised.” He jerked a thumb at the Pyros. “They said they heard something coming this way, but we haven’t been able to find anything.”

Spy drummed her fingers lightly across his hard hat. “Perhaps that means there is nothing to find.”

“Or it could mean that we just haven’t found it.”

RED Spy rubbed his forehead and turned towards the kitchen. “And if that is the case, then my BLU counterpart has a task with which to keep herself occupied and I shall return to my reports. But please do keep me informed if you find anything.”

BLU looked over at Engineer with a smile. “Well, mon petit chou, let it not be said that I turn down a challenge. Shall we begin?”


	13. Chapter 13

The secondary store room was Heavy's favored location for weapons maintenance. It was quiet, low traffic, and offered a little privacy for himself and Medic. The other Heavy apparently liked it for the same reasons. He found her in there with her gun spread across the floor. A complete tear down, and given the condition of the pieces, it looked long overdue.

Medic sat nearby with her Medi-Gun in almost as many pieces. Their own doctor had been amazed that her pack was still working at all, given how jury rigged the whole thing was, and had given her one of his old prototypes from which she could salvage parts. Aemilia was hopping from the doctor over to Heavy and then fluttering back to a small pate of feed that had been set between them.

Setting his own gun on one of the large crates that littered the room, Heavy spent a moment watching her work. 

No one with the name "Heavy" could ever be said to be a small person, but compared to him the woman's hands were dainty. Her fingers worked deftly with a nimbleness that was beyond him. Watching her, Heavy was reconsidering his standing rule about anyone else touching Sasha, or at the very least, bending it a little. There were some nooks and crannies that his hands were just too large to effectively clean.

She glanced up from her work and gave him a nod as she stood up to stretch and wipe her hands on a rag. “//That’s an impressive weapon. Custom?//”

Heavy patted Sasha affectionately. “//Yes. She weighs one hundred fifty kilograms and fires custom-tooled cartridges at ten thousand rounds per minute.//” 

Hands behind her back, Heavy inspected the minigun. The working was fine, something she would have been proud to do herself. It was obviously as well used as her own Misha, and she could see where parts had been changed, altered and improved. One hundred fifty kilos was beyond what she could work with, but she could still imagine the rush that must come from wielding this beast in battle.

“//Very nice.//” She didn’t bother trying to hide the admiration in her voice.

“//Thank you. Sasha has been good to me.//”

“//Sasha?//” Heavy looked up at him with a smile. He raised an eyebrow in question. “//That’s my name.//”

He laughed, a rich belly laugh that reminded her of home. “//It’s a good name. Let me know if you need any supplies for your own.//” Heavy gestured to the pieces spread across the floor. “//I keep some on hand for emergencies. And anything we don’t have, Engineer can make.//”

“//Thank you.//” 

From her spot on the floor, Medic watched the exchange. Out of all of the mercenaries, the Heavy’s were the two who differed most in appearance. Ultimately, she supposed it came down to genetics. Sasha wore the weight typical of her class across her hips, while her counterpart wore it on his stomach, making for vastly different silhouettes. She only caught a word or two of their conversation. They spoke to each other as native speakers do, and she supposed it was a nice change for them. While Sasha had slowly been teaching her, Medic knew that it wasn’t the same. 

“Coo.”

“Coo?”

Aemilia hopped up on her knee, causing Medic to look down to see a little blood-tinged head looking up at both of them from the floor. “Coo!”

The little bird flapped its wings and landed on Medic’s other knees before taking a few hops over towards Aemilia. The Jacobin's feather’s ruffled and she stepped back, the little rock dove following. A flurry of white fanned in front of Medic’s face as Aemilia took off, settling in the thick nest of her mistress’s hair as the rock dove followed up onto Medic’s shoulder.

“Archimedes! No!” 

The rock dove took off, wings beating across Medic’s face as it took off to hide in the collar of Heavy’s flak jacket.

“Hiding there is not going to do you any good, you naughty thing!” Medic marched over to the larger man, who stooped down to let the doctor scoop out the bird. “Running off like that. Tsk-tsk!” Archimedes’ ducked his head a little, looking as embarrassed as his little black eyes would allow. 

Medic got up to her knees, her own bird still nestled in her pinned hair. Her counterpart gave her an apologetic look as he offered a hand up the rest of the way.

“I’m sorry about that. I’m afraid Archimedes has become rather besotted with your little Jacobin. He took off as soon as I had my back turned.” 

Medic plucked a feather from her coat sleeve and patted the smaller dove on the head. “No harm. It is time for Aemilia to go back in, anyway. I will be back momentarily.” She ducked out of the room and back towards the infirmary.

Archimedes’ head drooped and he let out a sad little coo. Heavy chuckled as he took the little bird back in his large hands. “Poor little bird.”

***

Spy sat on the workbench as she watched Engineer slowly combing over the workshop. He was on hands and knees, crawling into the dark corners created by the numerous boxes, partially constructed buildings and vehicles. If nothing else, she had to admire the dedication.

Even if he was doing this the hard way.

Her fingers brushed along the lines of the box that was resting on her lap. The AM/FM Ultra-Sapper was one of the premier tools for any spy and one that should put this intruder concern to rest. Flicking a switch, the sapper lit up, beeping and pinging for the nearest electrical device.

A hard hatted head popped up when they heard the familiar sound. “You ain’t fixing to use that in here, are you?” He looked worried.

“Chut.” Spy waved her off as she held the sapper out. “Everything of importance is turned off, oui?”

“Yeah, but…” 

“Then there will be no issues. In fact, it will help matters immensely.” Taking a step forward, Spy methodically started sweeping the sapper into the room; her ears listening for the tell-tale sounds of vulnerable electronic devices. It was delicate work, and she was glad that Del had corralled the Pyros back out to the tunnels to collect their things. As effective as they were at their jobs, they tended to be a little over enthusiastic in wanting to help.

Even with the sapper, this was going to be slow work. The workshop was one of the largest single rooms in the base, and packed with equipment of all types. And if you wanted to do a thorough job, you needed to search everything.

Spy was nothing if not thorough.

***

By the time Medic returned, Sasha was almost finished reconstructing her gun. With a few more small adjustments, she gave a satisfied nod and set to work cleaning up the area.

While keeping his own Heavy company, Medic had also been watching Sasha work, observing the marked differences between her weapon and the minigun with which he was familiar. There was an odd piece that caught his attention. “What is that?” He pointed to a large curved piece next to the gun barrel. It was covered in padded leather and almost resembled a saddle.

Heavy bent over and picked up the gun. “Is part of custom build. I am smaller than other Heavies, so need smaller gun.” She set the piece on her side, where it rested perfectly on the curve of her hip. “Big men give me hard time about little gun. So I make sure that they remember that little Heavy is fastest Heavy.” Holding the gun with both hands, she quickly pivoted, swinging it around with ease.

Medic gave her an appreciative nod. “Impressive use of modifications. Using your natural physiology to your advantage.”

She set the gun down and picked up her cloth to give it a final buff. “Misha is good weapon. Is small but has bite. Is why I picked name. In Russian, means ‘little bear.’”

Medic turned to look up at Heavy with a grin, who shifted next to him. “Is that so?”

Heavy looked from one man to the other. “//Perhaps I should not have mentioned that?//”

“//I would have preferred you didn’t. The doctor has… his moods.//”

***

There were only a few more areas to sweep. So far Spy had cleared the vehicles and storage areas, and was moving on to the workbench. Engineer had been following her as she had been moving back and forth, carefully stepping to the side when she would suddenly change direction.

Engineer had to admit, it was interesting watching her work. He’d only ever been exposed to sappers while he was smashing them from his buildings, so the idea that they would have other applications was surprising. Although, now that he thought about it, this helped to explain how the BLU Spy that he was used to fighting always seemed to know exactly where he was.

Spy neared the teleporters that were sitting on the floor and suddenly went still.

“Find something?”

“Oui.”

The sapper was arced over the teleporter entrance and a series of beeps started to blur into a single buzz. Kneeling at the edge of the entrance, she grabbed the end and tugged up, surprised at the weight of the contraption. Engineer grabbed it in both hands and hoisted it on its side, giving Spy free access to it. After a moment, she turned off the sapper and set it down on the floor. “Engineer, what is this?”

Leaning in to see where the tip of her gloved finger was pointing, Engineer saw a small silver device attached to the teleporter. The design was unlike anything he’d seen before. Pulling out a screw driver, he wedged it under the device and pried it off into his gloved hand. He rolled it over, examining it from every angle.   
“Reckon it’s some kinda transmitter.” He finally said. “Although I’m not seeing any microphone, so I’m not entirely sure what it would be transmitting.”

Spy sat back on her heels, looking at the small object. “The Pyros said that they heard something coming in here.”

“This would have been too small for that.”

“Then we are not done.” She grabbed the sapper and turned it back on. This time she neared the workbench, which was still covered with sheets of calculations and technical drawings. Passing the sapper over them, the beeps started to pick up speed. When they again reached a maintained squeal, Spy turned it off and started rifling through the papers. Finding nothing, she knelt down to look under the bench.

“Lemmie.” Engineer got down next to her and pulled out a few crates as he made his way under the bench. “I can’t remember what’s done here off the top of my head. If there’s anything live, sharp or rusty, I’d prefer it be me who gets it.”

“By all means. I shall sit back and enjoy the view.” She smiled as she saw the twitch in his shoulders.

“Damn spook…” He muttered under his breath as he looked around the boxes and assorted equipment. How long had it been since he’d done a proper inventory? Judging by the amount of dust, way too long.

“Do you see anything?”

He turned over his shoulder. “Nothing. No… Wait.” It was hard to see in the dim light but there was something! Just under the lip of the table was something the size of a baseball glove; something definitely big enough to be heard in the tunnels. He twisted himself around, pulling his legs under him to get a better look at whatever it was. 

Another electronic gizmo, but this time the word ‘bug’ seemed appropriate. It was the same gray metal as the transmitter, but larger and with six spindly legs that clamped it to the bottom of the bench. There was no movement, no lights, nothing to indicate that it was working at all. Pulling out his screwdriver, he gripped the body in his gloved hand and started to pry one of the legs away.

As he did, there was a sudden twitch in his hand. Fighting the instinct to jerk away, Engineer gripped the body tightly as the legs detached themselves from the wood and started bending at every angle in their articulated lengths.

“Damnit!” He cursed as the whole thing started violently writhing in his grip.

“Engineer?” He heard Spy’s voice. “Are you alright?”

“Get me a pail!”

He heard the sound of leather hitting the concrete floor and he started scooting his way out from under the table. The bug robot was jerking his arm back and forth, its legs grabbing at anything in reach. When he finally got out from under the table, he saw Spy waiting for him, a metal bucket in her hands. Setting it down on the floor, she grabbed the top plate of a sentry to use as a lid.

Engineer pushed the little robot as far into the pail as he could, cursing as the legs spread out over the lip and pushed back. “Stubborn little cuss.” He gave it a hard shove, and he heard a snap as the legs were hyperextended and the body plunged to the bottom. With a quick nod to Spy, he pulled his arm back as she slammed the lid down.Inside the bucket, they heard the dull scratching of metal on metal as the thing thrashed about. 

“I think we found our culprit.” Engineer picked up the smaller transmitter from where it had been set earlier, tucking it into his pocket to study later. He looked over at Spy and she merely nodded in response. 

He watched as she pulled out a cigarette and her lighter.

The flame danced more than usual. 

Her hands were trembling.

“Spy?” He bent down in front of her. Her pale skin was whiter than usual. “You alright?”

“I have just seen something I had hoped to never see again.” It was barely more than a whisper. “Gray Mann is here.”


	14. Chapter 14

RED Spy leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers in front of him as he looked at the Engineers and BLU Spy on the other side of the desk. 

“You are sure?” He finally asked. “There can be no mistake?”

Engineer set the bucket on the desk and slid the sentry lid back. “Take a look for yourself.”

Pulling a penlight from his breast pocket, Spy peered into the bucket, almost immediately jerking back as a dagger sharp leg lashed out. Engineer quickly replaced the lid, leaning on it as violent scratches from the thing inside pierced their ears.

“Mon Dieu, what is that?”

“Robo-Spider.” BLU Engineer crossed her arms. “It’s Gray Mann technology if I’ve ever seen it.”

“And why is it in our base?”

“Likely dropping this off.” RED pulled the small transmitter out of his pocket and handed it to Spy. “It’s a transmitter of some kind. We found it attached to one of the teleporters.”

The Frenchman turned the small device in his fingers. “There is no microphone. This was not planted for the purpose of listening. So the questions are, what is its purpose and how long has it been here?”

“The Pyros heard this thing coming in, so less than a day.” Engineer leaned on the bucket. “As for what it was for? Ain’t got a clue.”

“Is it safe to leave it active?”

“The Robo-Spider is a transport, but it also is an amplifier.” BLU took the transmitter back from Spy. “If it’s sapped, we lose our only way of finding out where it was transmitting.”

“Have you had any interactions with Gray Mann?” BLU Spy sat herself on the edge of the desk, casting a wary glance at the pail. 

“Non.” Spy opened a panel on his desk. Inside was a red telephone marked EMERGENCY. “The first we had heard of him was when you first arrived. Now if you three will excuse me, I need to make a call.”

***

“//It’s a very nice view, don’t you think?//” Medic glanced over at her counterpart as they made a few minor adjustments to her Medi-Gun.

Medic looked up. “//Very nice, indeed.//”

Over in the corner, both of the Heavies were currently bent over one of the munitions crates as they worked on Misha. “//Adding Australium for the barrel would eliminate some of that weight.//”

“//It would, but the requisition would never make it past Spy’s desk.//”

“//You don’t think you could sell him on the benefits? You’d be much more maneuverable.//”

“//His grasp of my tactics is… What are they giggling about?//”

They looked back to see the two doctors huddled over the Medi-Gun, grins plastered on their faces. As soon as they noticed that they were being watched, they turned back to their work, both blushing heavily. 

“//Those two together make me nervous.//” Heavy sighed as she turned back to the minigun, just in time to hear a commotion in the hall.

“You think I’m believing that?!”

“What, you think I’d lie?”

The arguing voices got closer until Scout burst into the room, with the other Scout following close behind him.

“I’m just saying I don’t believe you!” Scout whipped around to glare at the woman tailing him.

Scout crossed her arms, returning the glare. “And I’m just trying to save you some trouble, so don’t shoot the freakin’ messenger. I asked just like you wanted me to, and the answer is she ain’t into you like that!”

“Look, I ain’t saying that’s what you think you heard. I’m just saying that you didn’t hear right. Because who wouldn’t be into all of this?” Scout pointed at himself, adding in a little flex for emphasis as he looked over towards the Medics. “I mean, come on, back me up here, grandma!”

Medic looked less than impressed. “I would probably not be the best person to bring into this.”

“Truth.” Scout pointed at Medic. “You are a bit past your prime.”

An eyebrow raised. “Nein, I just happen to find Heavy to be the superior specimen.”

“Seriously? Doc? A little back up here?”

Medic held up his hands. “What do you want me to say? Heavy is the superior specimen.”

“Ppph, whatever. Later losers.” The group watch as Scout trudged out of the room. 

“If I’m ever like that, please tell me you’ll slap me so hard I wake up in respawn.” Scout huffed as she sat down next to Medic. “You try and do a guy a favor and he just throws it in your face.”

“So, what was that all about, Häschen?” Medic turned back to her Medi-Gun. “Outside of Scout needing to confirm his manhood, I mean.”

“I talked to Miss Pauling for him.” 

“And it did not go so well, I presume?” The other Medic looked around the metal casing to see Scout shake her head. “Hm. Not surprising. He has been nursing that little infatuation for a while.”

Scout drummed her fingers on her knees for a minute. “Hey, Inge, could I talk to you and Sasha for a bit? In private?”

Medic over at Heavy, who gave her a slightly bewildered look. “Do you two mind?”

“Not at all.” Heavy set down his tools and headed towards the door, tugging his Medic along gently. He closed the door behind them, leaving the women together in private.

Heavy came over and sat on the other side of Scout, who was working the edge of her shirt between her fingers. “What is it, malyshka?”

“If this is about Miss Pauling, it is hardly your fault she clearly has better taste than the boy gives her credit for.” Medic gave her shoulder a squeeze.

“It’s not that.” Scout pulled her cap off and held it by the brim as she tried to think of what she wanted to say. “It’s, well, I don’t exactly feel bad about it.” She looked up at the older women, who just sat quietly, waiting for her to continue. “Um, I talked with her earlier and it was, ya’know, kinda nice. Not that talkin’ with you guys isn’t nice, I mean! It’s just, it was kinda different. And then I went to talk to Mickey about it, and she said I should come and talk to you two.”

“So, the fact is you think you may have some affection for her?” Medic asked, her voice even and measured. “You have only known her for a few days.”

“Yeah, I know. I know.” Scout replied quickly. “And I didn’t tell her nothin’, either.”

Heavy wrapped an arm around the young woman. “But you are here to ask us advice, da?”

Scout leaned into the Russian. Heavy was like a mountain next to her; big, strong and unshakable. “I don’t know what I should do, Mama Bear.” There was the sound of someone moving and the light touch of fingers in her hair, untangling the knots that had found their way in since the day before. Part of her wanted to pull away and declare that she wasn’t sort of little kid to be babied. But she didn’t. It was just too soothing to have them here to be a buffer to everything that could hurt her.

“It is not an easy thing, you know.” Medic’s fingers worked their way through a particularly stubborn knot. “She may not be open to anything. A lot of people do that, just to stay safe.”

“I’ve had murder-bots after me.”

“But she has not. And I say this not to dissuade you, but to prepare you for what might happen.” Fingers ran through smoothed hair, pulling it back to lay across Scout’s back. “It can be hard. Sasha and I went for most of our lives before finding each other.”

“How’d you know?”

“Little Medic defended me like wildcat during respawn failure.” Heavy smiled at the memory. “They refused to stop match and she would not leave, even after I fell. Killed three scouts and a soldier.”

Medic lay a hand on Heavy’s shoulder. “I was rewarded with a very enthusiastic thank you once she finished yelling at me for putting myself in danger.”

“Kinda hopin’ it doesn’t get to that.” A smile tugged at Scout’s mouth. 

“Talk with her.” Medic urged. “Become her friend. If she’s interested in more, she will let you know that she feels safe to do so.”

“Would mean you stay here.” Heavy added. “If there is a way back, you are sure you would not go?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Outside of you all, there ain’t anything for me back home.”

***

RED Spy waited until the others had left the room before resting his hand on the phone. There was a moment of hesitation; he could still simply call Miss Pauling. But there had been something in the eyes of the BLUs that unnerved him. Picking up the handset, he pressed the single button on the bases’ face. A moment later he heard a familiar voice, only without the tinny ring of the field loudspeakers.

“I hope this is important.”

“And I hope that it is not.” Spy sat down behind the desk. There was a pause on the other end of the line. Never a good sign. That simple fact was enough to confirm that the Administrator had some knowledge that she hadn’t bothered to yet share.

“What is it?”

“What do you know of Gray Mann?”


	15. Chapter 15

Spy rolled over on her side as she heard restless movement beside her. Propping her head up on her hand, she watched as Engineer shifted under her blanket before pulling her pillow under her arm with a sigh. 

“Difficulty sleeping?” Spy whispered, her voice low to avoid disturbing Scout and Sniper laying nearby. 

Engineer crossed her arms under her chin, a mass of rag curlers flopping around her face. “It was nice for a few days.”

“Oui.” Wrapping herself in her own blanket, Spy slipped over to the next mattress and lay herself next to her friend. “You are worried.” It wasn’t a question, so Engineer didn’t respond. She just looked over at Spy, the weariness in her eyes saying everything. Spy reached out and gently tugged at one of Engineer’s hands, lacing their fingers together.

Engineer finally gave Spy’s hand a squeeze. “I’m tired of being afeard for my life, Yvette.” 

“I know, mon ami. But there is nothing we can do at this moment. And we should allow them at least one more night of rest.” She wriggled closer, wrapping her arm around the other woman, pulling her into a hug. “Get some rest, Del. I have a feeling that we shall need it come morning.”

They lay like that for a time until Spy started to hear soft snores rumbling against her chest. Carefully untangling herself from Engineer’s arms, she got to her feet. After pulling on her mask, she grabbed her jacket from its hanger and tossed it on over her pajamas before softly padding out of the room.

Sleep would elude her for a few hours yet.

She walked the dark halls of the base, allowing her feet to carry her more from memory than any actual awareness of where she was going. Wandering was an old habit carried over from childhood, a habit that had lead to her learning to pick locks once her parents decided that was the appropriate way to keep her in her room at night. It cleared her mind to finally have peace and quiet.

Was RED Spy a wanderer? She mused the question for a moment as she paused by a window to look out over the desert. The land outside was bathed in the blue light of night, dim and eerie as a crescent moon hung overhead. It occurred to her that she rarely took the time to admire the land she’d worked in for so many years. Known the rise and fall of the land was tactically necessary, and she could find her way through it blindfolded. But she had never really considered its unique beauty. 

Perhaps an opportunity she wouldn’t have again. 

A noise from kitchen caught her attention, snapping her from her reverie. Her hand to lept to her sleeve to pull out her balisong. Creeping forward, she flipped the blade open, ready to face whoever might be lurking.

The smell of… Chocolate?

Leaning into the door frame, she saw the source of the noise. Engineer stood on his toes at the counter, reaching up into cabinet and cursing under his breath as he realized that Heavy had been the one putting the dishes away that night. Bringing a hand to her mouth, she stifled a laugh.

“Ya can either stand there with that damn grin on your face, or you can come over and gimmie a hand.”

Spy started, looking around to see if there was as of yet unseen third person in the room, before Engineer turned around and looked directly at her.

“I’m impressed. Here I thought I was one with the shadows.” 

“I wouldn’t be around this long unless I’d figured out how to tell when there’s a spy at my back.”

“Touche.” Spy smiled and slipped around the table that sat in the middle of the room. The coffee mugs were in easy reach, and looped her fingers into the handles of two of them. She brought them down and almost started when she realized that she was looking into a pair of blue eyes. Engineer raised an eyebrow before shrugging and taking both of them from her hand. He made a stop by the Frigidaire to pull out a milk carton, adding a long pour to the saucepan that was slowly warming on the stove. “Drinking chocolate? I did not think that Americans indulged in such things.”

“Well, I can’t rightly speak for America; that’s Soldier’s job. I can say that Conaghers don’t.” He gestured to a mason jar sitting open next to the stove. “We have Granny Gonagher’s cocoa mix. And before you go sayin’ somethin’,” He turned around and wagged a wooden spoon at her, “you gotta at least try it first.”

“I would not dream of insulting Mémé Conagher.” Spy took a seat at the table and smiled. Engineer just chuckled and shook his head as he turned back to the saucepan. She picked at a stain on the tablecloth as she watched him tend to the milk. 

It was the first time she’d actually seen the man out of uniform, or as much as a pair of coveralls could ever be considered as such. Now the man puttered about in a white t-shirt and a pair of red and white striped pajama bottoms; his head completely bare of hard hat and goggles. A fine fuzz on his head indicated either a highly practical man or one who was admitting the inevitability of male pattern baldness. 

A smile tugged at her lips as Spy’s mind brought up the image of Del laying back in the bunk room with her head full of rag rollers.

“So what has you lurkin’ about?” Engineer asked.

“My mind had not yet decided to rest for the evening.” Spy answered as truthfully as she could. “Tomorrow we have to tell the others about Gray, and I have been trying to decide best to do it.”

Engineer nodded and sipped his drink. “I can understand that.”

“These last few days has been good for them. I hate to take it away so quickly.”

“Not gonna have a choice in that, I reckon. Pretty sure Spy was talking to the Administrator the minute we were out of the room.” He looked back over his shoulder. “I’d bet the farm we’re gonna be waking up to a meeting after breakfast. I can’t imagine the Administrator letting this slide.”

“I hope not, for all of our sakes. If we are lucky, it is not too late to prevent what happened in our dimension.”

There was the sound of metal lightly clinking against ceramic and a moment later a mug was set down in front of her. “I’d offer you marshmallows, but I wouldn’t want to offend that refined palette of yours.” Engineer dropped a small bag of the sweets next to the mug as he sat down in the chair next to her. A single large marshmallow bobbed in his mug, getting poked down by a spoon until it started to melt into the warm cocoa.

Spy gave a little huff, but smiled as she took a sip of the warm drink instead. It wasn’t as creamy as the drink she enjoyed back in France, but it was still good. Sweet and warm, it was homey in a way anything made by a grandmother would be.

They sat for a while, sipping the cocoa and listening to the ticking of the clock on the wall. Every so often Engineer’s eyes would wander over to the woman sitting next to him, his analytical mind trying to make sense of her. It was the first time he’d ever seen her, or any spy for that matter, in anything other than impeccable dress. Blue cotton pajamas under her suit jacket with white slippers capping off the look. He could tell that her mask had been pulled on without thought; a few wisps of her brown hair poked out at the back. But what really caught his eyes were her hands.

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected under those kid leather gloves of hers. Well, actually, he knew exactly what he’d expected. Soft hands. The type of hands that you had after never doing a day’s work in the field. The type of hands that belonged to a person who sipped cognac and wore tailored suits. But that’s not what he was looking at.

They weren’t exactly rough like his own, but they showed their own signs of wear. Small nicks and scars across their backs, with nails evenly trimmed but bare of any polish. As she set down her mug, he noticed a single long scar that crossed her right palm. 

“There’s no good story for that, I’m afraid. Just a silly young spy being a little to showy with a butterfly knife.”

Engineer jerked his eyes up to meet hers, and felt a blush creep up the back of his neck. 

Spy took a final sip. Looking at the bottom of the mug, there was a little slurry of cocoa mix and milk at the bottom. Not wanting it to go to waste, she plucked one of the marshmallows from the bag. Gripping the confection by its end, she soaked up the last dregs of the chocolate. “This was quite good, by the way. Send my compliments to Mémé Conagher.” 

“I’ll be sure to-”

Spy popped the marshmallow between his lips, grinning at the surprised look on his face. 

“You leave me with a sweet image to take with me to my dreams tonight. Bonne nuite, mon petit chou.” And with that, she slipped back into the darkness of the hall.

Engineer sat there for a moment before remembering he still had the marshmallow in his mouth. He gave it a few quick chews before swallowing, then took both mugs to the sink to wash in the morning. Checking the stove and turning off the lights, he started back to his own bunk, slowly shaking his head.

“Damn spies.” 

But he couldn’t help but smile. 

Just a little bit.


	16. Chapter 16

Heavy walked into the meeting room and looked around for Medic. Sometime between breakfast and now he’d lost track of the German, and that had him mildly concerned. A letter had arrived with the morning post from home, asking if he would be returning home during the upcoming furlough, and he’d wanted to discuss the matter with the doctor before it was time for the meeting that Spy had called for that morning.

The infirmary and Medic’s office had been empty aside from the birds, who had managed to escape the dovecote. It was certainly a sign that Medic had been there; the man was brilliant but sometimes had the attention span of a gnat. He had taken a few minutes to get the birds back in the hutch, finally finding Aemilia cuddled up in the doctor’s field jacket next to the small pocket Heavy doll that Pyro had made as a Smismass gift. Archimedes was roosting on the top of the Medi-Gun pack nearby. 

He looked up at the clock as he latched the dovecote and sighed as he realized that he was going to have to wait to have his talk.

Spy had announced the meeting at breakfast that morning, instructing the team to meet him in the briefing room at ten o’clock. There had been a mix of grumbles and moans from around the table. The new Scout had snickered before being lightly cuffed on the back of the head by the BLU Engineer. “That means us too.”

Heavy had tried to get a read from Spy as to what he should expect, but the man’s face was too well schooled to give anything away.

Which meant this was directed by the Administrator.

As Heavy approached the briefing room, he heard an animated conversation just inside the door. Unfamiliar words in a familiar voice going at a mile a minute meant that he had finally found his Doctor.

“Er ist sicherlich so groß wie ein Bär.”

“Aber er ist freundlich. Ein Kuschelbär.”

“Ein Kuschelbär? Das ist perfekt!*!”

They looked over with grins on their faces as they saw him enter the room and take a seat next to Sasha. 

She leaned over and whispered. “//It makes me nervous when they’re smiling like that.//” 

Heavy just nodded in agreement. His doctor could be quite unnerving at times. Now he had a perfect partner in crime.

“Gentlemen.” Spy briskly walked into the room with Miss Pauling slipping in behind him. He came to a stop at the head of the table and paused to look at the assembled group. “And ladies. Thank you for coming. I suppose you are wondering why I have called you all here today.”

“Yeah, kinda were. Today was supposed to be an off-day.” Scout scowled from the back wall, pushing off to take a seat at the table next to Miss Pauling, who occupied herself with flipping through the folder she had brought with her.

Engineer came forward and set a metal bucket on the table, carefully keeping his hand on the heavy metal plate that lay on top. 

Spy lit a cigarette and pointed at the pail. “This is the reason.”

“The Death Wish Bucket!” Soldier slammed his hands on the table. “We are dying again!” 

“We are not dying!” Medic called from the back. “At least, no more so than usual.”

“Non, Soldier, it is what is IN the bucket. Engineer, if you please.”

Carefully sliding the lid off the pail, Engineer slipped his gloved hand in. A frantic metallic scratching came from inside, the sound causing him to wince as he wrapped his hands around and pulled out a writhing mass of flashing silver legs.

“Holy fuck, what’s that?!” Scout jerked back in his seat as one of the legs came a little too close for comfort.

“It’s a Spider-Bot.” BLU Engineer stepped up to the table as RED returned the robot to the pail. “We found it in the workshop yesterday evening. It’s Gray Mann technology.”

“Gray? The one responsible for the whole robo-pocolypse thing?”

“That isn’t possible.” Sniper leaned forward in her chair, her voice low. “Nothin’ followed us here. Nothin’!”

“You’re right. Nothing followed you.” Miss Pauling opened the folder sitting in front of her and pulling out a series of photos. “But someone wants to go back from where you came from.” 

Laying the first photo down, the mercenaries found themselves looking at the image of a small, drawn man; his eyes gazing at the photographer with a look of utter disinterest. 

“That’s him, isn’t it?” Demo reached out and pulled the photo towards her. “This world’s Gray Mann. I’d recognize that scabby bassa anywhere.”

Miss Pauling nodded. “Gray Mann born 1882, the youngest son of Zepheniah Mann. Disowned by his father shortly after birth, he was largely off the radar with the logical assumption being that his abduction by an eagle as an infant resulted in his death.” She lay down another photo, this one grainy and obviously taken with the subject unaware. In it, Gray was talking with a large mustached Australian. “But he surfaced recently at the start of the current Australium mining season sourcing advanced robotics. He made inquiries, but lacked sufficient funding.”

“Which brings us back to our little friend here.” Engineer knocked the side the bucket. “There was a transmitter on the teleporter pad. But we couldn’t quite figure out what it was there for. The teleporter is a fine little piece of work, but it ain’t cutting edge.”

“At least not yet.” BLU chimed in. “But we were working on trying to replicate that little trick I pulled of to get us here. Everything was still in the theoretical stages, but we were almost ready to move to protyping. If we had started testing, the data would have been broadcast directly back to Gray.”

“So what’s that mean?” Sniper adjusted the brim of his slouch hat. “Why would he even be listening in to a bunch of mercs in a gravel pit in the first place.”

“An excellent question, is it not, Miss Pauling?” Spy reached down and spread out a few more pages of the file, his eyes darting over purchase records, travel dates and copies of intercepted telegrams. “Would you like to tell them, or should I?”

Miss Pauling glared over her shoulder before turning back to the mercenaries. “The Administrator’s systems were compromised.” She could feel the ripple of surprise move through the assembled teams. “I don’t know when it happened, but it was before you all arrived. He knows everything. He knows there’s a time or place where he’s succeeded. And he knew that the engineers were going to try to figure a way back.”

“He’s looking for a shortcut.” BLU Engineer shrugged. “Why spend all the time building if you could just open a door and have the heavy lifting already done?”

“And who better to ally yourself with, than another version of you?” BLU Spy pulled a few of the loose papers across the table. “Although, I’m sure he has an overly complex plan to double cross him at some point.”

Scout pulled her legs up under her, fingers tapping on her knees. “But he didn’t, right? You didn’t get to workin’ on the teleporter, so he doesn’t have a way to go nowhere.”

RED Engineer nodded. “That’s right. None of these little bots have any audio capabilities. He may not even know that we’ve found ‘em out.”

Spy looked at the papers in front of her as the conversation continued around her. In the background she heard assurances being given and indignation rising. Miss Pauling was arguing with Heavy and Spy about the Administrator’s security breach. But nothing was quite as interesting in the papers that had caught her eye.

Amongst all the letters and photos was a map.

A topographic map. Of the New Mexico desert.

Pulling it in front of her, she studied the lines. It was most certainly a map of the land around 2Fort; she had stared at her own maps long enough to know them. Across the map were neatly penned notes in a fine script. 

GRAY.

At a location approximately ten miles from their current location was an X. 

CARRIER.

Her heart sank. 

“Don’t like the look you got on yer face there, Spy.” A gloved hand came down on the map, twisting it to give Engineer a better view. “Carrier?”

“A deployment vehicle. Back home there were hundreds.” She stood up and pulled the rest of the folder towards her and started rifling through the contents.

“Hey!” Miss Pauling spun around from Heavy and Spy. “Careful with that! I have to get this back to the Administrator in one piece.”

“Chut-chut-chut!” Spy held up a hand. “I know what I’m looking for.”

Her hands flew as they spread the contents across the table, glancing at each page before discarding it to the side. The other mercenaries just watched as she let the scattered pages fall to the floor, Miss Pauling the only other person moving as she snatched the pages up. 

“Ah-ha…” Spy whispered as her fingers landed on an aerial photograph. The image was surprisingly clear, with a large object in the middle of it. She laid it on top of the map, aligning the blob with the X underneath. Twisting the photo slightly, she smiled as the mesas in the photo lined up with the topographic lines on the map below. She looked up at the other mercenaries. “Mes amis, I have some good news, and I have some bad news.”

“Bad news first.” BLU Engineer leaned over the table to look at the map. 

“The bad news is that I’m almost certain Gray has started creating robots. This structure,” she pointed to the blob in the photograph, “is a robot carrier. And based on the date on this photo, was last seen approximately ten miles from this point. We are standing at the edge of a new Robot War.”

Spy felt the chill run through the room. She knew the implications her words held for the women that she had come to call sisters.

“And the good?”

Spy’s fingers traced the lines in front of her. “There is only one. We still have time to stop him.”  
\---------------------------------------

“He is as big as a bear.”

“But he’s friendly. A cuddly bear.”

“A cuddly bear? That’s perfect*!”


	17. Chapter 17

“And just when was she gonna deign to tell us about this?” Demo slammed his fist on the table. 

Miss Pauling held her hands up. “Look I’m as surprised as you are, but I’m sure she had her reasons.”

“This inna transferin’ us to some backwoods base or settin’ us on a bloody bomb intercept!” The Scot roared. “It’s a bloody super-tank with robots just waitn’ inside like a murder pinata!”

“Hey, back off, cyclops!” Scout pushed her way in front of Miss Pauling. “She said she didn’t know!” 

“And ye think that’ll make a bit o’ difference when they’re knockin’ at our door?”

“Be pissed at the Administrator, then!” Scout shouted back, really wishing she’d thought to bring her bat.

“ENOUGH!” Heavy’s voice boomed in the small room. “This does nothing!” The giant glared at both Demo and Scout, his fury pushing them both back to their seats as his two large hands coming down on the table caused everyone to jump. 

As everyone sat in stunned silence, Scout felt a squeeze on her hand. She glanced over to see Miss Pauling mouth ‘thanks.’

“You.” Heavy looked over at BLU Spy. “You have idea, yes?”

Spy was silent for a moment before slowly nodding. “I have… the germ of an idea.” She tapped the photo in front of her. “But I need more information.”

“What information would that be?” RED Spy leaned over the table, pulling the map and photo back to his side. 

“We need to know what exactly Gray has at his disposal.” BLU shook her head. “Right now we know he has a carrier, but we do not know what is in it.”

“You do not think think it is robots?” 

“Oh, I think that’s exactly what it is. The question is how many and what kind.”

“Gray was obsessed with proving that he was better than his brothers.” Engineer stepped back up to the table. “He took the basic idea behind the RED and BLU classes and designed robots around us. Scout-Bots, Heavy-Bots, Demo-Bots. Heck, he even made a Medic-Bot that could ÜberCharge other robots.”

“None of them a particularly serious threat on their own. They use minimal tactics.” Spy casually lit a cigarette. “However, when there are many of them…” She waved a hand.

“Overwhelming forces. Shock and awe.” Soldier growled.

“Robots don’t get tired, don’t care if one goes down next to ‘em. Ain’t a human force alive that can stand up to that.”

Medic coughed from the back of the room. “I would like to point out that this does not sound like the start of a very promising plan.”

“BUT, there is only one carrier.” Spy continued. “That means there can only be but so many robots. And likely none of the giant ones.”

“G… Giant?” Scout squeaked from the other side of the table.

Spy smiled at the young man. “Don’t worry. There are almost assuredly no giant robots.”

“Sounds like you’re talking a reconnaissance mission.” Sniper pushed himself off from the wall where he’d been lurking for the duration of the meeting. 

“Oui. I would recommend a small party. RED Spy and myself would likely be the best option.” She felt Engineers on both sides of her tense. “We can slip in and out without being seen.”

“Probably.” Sniper nodded his head as he took a few steps forward, taking his turn to pull the map away. “But how about getting there?”

“I do not follow.”

“A spy’s cloak is good for nine seconds.” Sniper mused.

RED Spy arched an eyebrow. “We can disguise.”

“Which gets knocked off with one good hit. And that’s after getting there in the first place.”

“Is this leading somewhere, bushman?”

Sniper looked up from the map. “This location is in the middle of the scrub. You’re gonna get those fancy Italian shoes of your all dirty out there. Plus, I’m used to finding something from a distance.”

“You won’t be able to get as close.”

“This is initial recon, mate. Lay of the land. I make sure you’re not about to walk into a sticky situation. Then if you’re feelin’ frisky, you go in for a closer look.” He looked up at the clock. “Leave at dusk. Make it back by dawn. Gray hasn’t attacked yet. Odds are one more day isn’t going to be anything.”

The Spies looked at each other. BLU shrugged. RED nodded.

“Try not to get yourself killed.”

***

It had been a quiet drive, the rumbling of the tires over the hard packed earth the only noise. Which was fine with Sniper.

Both of them.

BLU held a small pen light in her hand, cupping it to keep from distracting the man sitting next to her. The minute the meeting had broken up that morning she had insisted on joining him. For a moment he looked like he’d say no before gesturing for her to follow him out to his camper. They’d spent the day going through his weapon locker and making sure everything was prepped. BLU had felt better with something to occupy her hands. RED seemed to appreciate the company.

As they drove through the desert, her feet were propped up on the dash. The map, illuminated by the pen light was resting against her knees with a compass pressed up against it to keep them on course. “Stop at that outcrop.” 

RED nodded and slowly brought the truck to a stop.

They exited the vehicle and pulled their kit out from the back. Twin rifles and SMGs, just to be on the safe side. RED wore his kukri at his side, while BLU secured the biggest Bowie knife he’d ever seen to her own belt. They lay the map out on the tailgate of the truck and made one final study of it before turning towards the rocky hills in front of them. A narrow game path wound its way up to a low mesa. With a quick glance, they agreed and started on their way.

It took them a half hour to trudge up the path. The ground was loose under their feet and neither wanted to risk a fall this far out from the base. Eventually they neared the plateau and dropped down to their hands and knees to prevent them from being seen against the horizon. Crawling along the ground they slowly pulled themselves to the edge on the other side.

“There it is.” Sniper’s voice was low, his body flat against the ground as he peered over the edge of the mesa. Beside him, BLU just grunted as she pulled her scope up to her eye to see something she had hoped to never see again. 

The carrier was massive, a fortress on treads that was capable of rolling over anything in its way. Illuminated from the inside and along the bottom, she was able to see movement; long shadows being cast by as of yet unseen things. “Something’s about down there.”

RED pulled up his own scope. “Just how many of these things did he have?”

“Back home? I lost count.”

“You ever actually take one down?”

BLU was quiet. RED waited.

“No.” She finally responded. “That’s what happened to the other half of the teams.”

“Bloody hell.”

“We should get a closer look.” Sniper lowered her rifle and turned to her counterpart. “Never saw one of these things when they weren’t trying to kill us. This might be our only chance to see if there’s a weakness.”

Sniper slipped his own rifle back on and started to scoot forward. “There’s a ledge not too far down. Not sure we’ll be able to get back up, though.”

“We’ll have to take the long way around.”

“Don’t have much choice.” He swung his legs over and started to lower himself down. “Like you said, we have one chance.”

They made their way down at an agonizing pace. With each rock that fell, they would freeze, pausing just long enough to throw a glance over their shoulders to see if any new moment could be seen from the metal fortress below. As the ground grew closer, they could hear the sound of metal against metal faintly ringing in the distance. Dropping the final couple of feet, they made their way towards the towering structure that sat in the middle of the plain. 

Sniper was still amazed at the sheer size of the thing. It was a giant tank of a machine, complete with radio towers - likely what was waiting to receive the Spider-Bot’s signal if it ever had been able to broadcast. Across the front was a row of windows, likely the bridge. Pulling his rifle back around, he lifted the scope to his eye. Human forms were silhouetted against the glass, but he wasn’t able to make out any details. “Think that’s where the little mongrel is?”

“Like as not.” BLU replied. “That’s the main hatch.” She pointed to the massive door that was open at the front. “That’s what we need a view of.” 

He shifted his scope down. “I don’t have a good angle from here.”

“We need to get closer.”

“Spook’s not gonna like that.”

She looked over at him with a toothy grin. “Good thing he ain’t me boss.”

The night was dark, the moon above barely more than a sliver, and that was the only cover between the cliffs and the carrier. The two snipers moved quickly but quietly, their years in the brush serving them in good stead as they strode across the open land. It only took a few minutes to hide themselves between the oversized treads, allowing them to quickly reassess their situation.

BLU started to prowl closer, RED close on her heels. “Keep your ears open.” She whispered. “You’ll hear ‘em before you see ‘em.”

Suddenly, she froze, hand out in a silent signal.

“Hey, *bizzt* is someone keeping track o’ *bizzt* my heads batted in?”


	18. Chapter 18

Sniper held her hand out behind her, a silent signal to stop. RED froze, still as a statue as they listened to the sound of heavy footsteps falling above them.

“Bonk! bzzzt... Bonk! bzzzt… Bonk!”

The scratchy hiss of the electronic voice just repeated, stuck on a loop. Shadows flickered across the ground, long stretches of black projected out by the light from inside the carrier. Carefully shifting her weight to her back foot, Sniper pressed her hand into RED’s chest, pushing him into the shadows cast by the massive treads. 

They pressed up against the wheels within the tracks as they heard a set of lighter footsteps coming from the other side. Their pace was irregular, staggering and stumbling as it moved along. Peering through the wheels, a humanoid figure could be seen, it’s body twisted at a gruesome angle and hands spasming at its side. As it passed them, its head slowly creaked to the side, the metallic face briefly illuminated as wires sparked from its neck. 

“Bonk! bzzzt... Bonk! bzzzt… Bonk!”

Sniper heard gears turning, like the sound of Engineer’s sentry being deployed, but eerily drawn out to an almost painful wail. He watched as the robot’s whole torso swiveled so that its blue glowing eyes looked directly at him. It continued to trudge forward, it’s body contorted with upper and lower halves misaligned. Wrapping his fingers around the kukri, he looked across to BLU, her own fingers pulling her own knife from its sheath.

“We got 'em! bzzzt… We got 'em! bzzzt..."

The legs stopped moving, and once again there was a hollow creek as they realigned with the torso. One elbow jerked out at an unnatural angle, the arm bending backwards and pulling out a large metal bat.

“Shit…” Sniper muttered under her breath. While they were still hidden, the robot had definitely picked up on something.

“Suggestions?”

She looked him dead in the eye. “We gotta put it down. That thing finds us here and we’re up a bloody gum tree.” Craning her neck back, she took another look at the shambling figure. “He’s damaged or something. Those wires shouldn’t be exposed. Let me pull it, you cark it. That knife has to go in deep and you’re gonna have more behind it.”

“Brilliant. Metal shanks into high voltage.” Sniper pulled the kukri from its sheath and let its familiar weight sink into his palm. He flashed a toothy grin. “Sounds like fun.”

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

They broke simultaneously, each on either side of the tread. BLU doged far right, catching the robot’s attention, feeling those cold blue eyes targeting. With a jerk, the batting arm swung up, torso tracking Sniper’s movement as she moved. Gears whirred as its legs started to hobble backwards, stumbling across the desert earth as it lunged and swung the bat widely.

RED turned the far corner of the tread, kukri at the ready. At the base of the robot’s neck was a mass of wires, sparking with with every movement. His fingers tightened on the leather grip of the blade and hoped it was thick enough. Otherwise this was going to hurt like a bitch.

In front of him, BLU cautiously circled around the robot. A wild swing brought the bat too close, sending her stumbling back as she leaned out of the way. The metal bat rang out as it slammed down against rock, burying itself into the earth. BLU dove, plunging her Bowie knife into the robot’s wrist, almost cleaving it from the arm. 

RED lunged forward as the robot jerked back; its hand hung lamely from its arm, the bat left in the ground. The thing staggered back as the gears within started to desperately spin, trying to bring itself back together. Raising the kukri above his head, RED lined up the strike and drove the blade into the exposed wiring with his full weight behind the blow.

Sparks jumped around the blade, and the robot’s body contorted as it tried to turn. Sniper retreated, holding his arm up to protect his eyes. A low pitched whine eked out of the thing as it fell to the ground with a thud, arms and legs folding in on itself. They stood still for a minute, listening and looking for any signs that they had been detected. 

The only noise was the low hum from the carrier’s engines.

Approaching the pile of metal in front of them, they watched as the thing continued to shudder and twitch. The lights behind the eyes flickered as they neared, the whine skipping and cracking like a broken record. RED reached down and pulled the kukri out, giving it a final twist to extinguish the lights.

“So what is this thing?”

“Scout-Bot.” BLU retrieved her own weapon, returning the knife to its sheath. “Normally the things travel in packs. I’ve almost never seen one by itself before.”

“We need to get it out of sight.” Sniper gave the robot a tug, surprised at how light it was. “We could pull it under.”

“Or we could take it back with us.” BLU gave him a look. “Engie would kill for a chance to actually dissect one of these things.”

RED was quiet for a minute. They were almost a mile from the truck. It was getting well into early morning. And they’d have to haul a robot.

“One of these things malfunctioning and wandering off is a little less suspicious than finding it with a knife in its back.”

“Bloody hell.” RED growled as he knelt to pull the thing across his shoulders. “Just keep an eye out, okay?”

The trek back took longer than expected.

After the first hour the robot was off Sniper’s shoulders and dragging along behind them. Belts and holsters had been fashioned into makeshift grips and lashed under the metal man’s arms, letting them split the work.

By the time they reached the truck a warm hue was starting to tint eastern sky. They dropped the robot on the ground and lowered the tailgate. BLU hopped into the bed and took the straps, pulling the wreck in the rest of the way. RED offered a hand to assist her back to the ground, and she took it, too tired to worry about taking help.

“Not looking forward to the ride back.” She muttered. “You gonna be okay to drive?”

“Not much choice. We’re both knackered but I’m not gonna feel better until we’re back at base. Just stay awake and gimmie a whack if I start to drift.”

BLU grinned. “If I die in a bloody ute after escaping murderous robots, I’m gonna kill you, mate.”


	19. Chapter 19

Spy sat alone in the briefing room, papers still scattered in front of her. The Administrator’s file was stuffed to bursting with information, but she was determined to go through each piece and commit as much as she could to memory. The sheer amount of information in it was staggering; everything from shipping invoices to telegrams documenting backroom deals for advanced robotic schematics. The former outlining Gray’s slow accumulation of weaponry and materials to build the carrier, the latter detailing the earliest stages of his robotic army.

The Administrator had clearly known about Gray for years. Why she had been gathering the information, or why it had been kept so quiet was the question. She was, of course, under no obligation to share. RED was here merely as a proxy for Redmond Mann. Likewise, BLU for Blutarch. Until the robots had started marching across humanity, he had been of concern to any of them.

Picking up the portrait of Gray, she carefully considered the man. She’d never seen Gray back in their own reality, but she imagined that he would have looked similar. Narrow eyes looked back at her from the paper, almost lizard-like in their coldness. Her mouth quirked; she could almost imagine a forked tongue slipping through those narrow lips. Gray was a small man, sharp contrast to the images she’d seen of the other Mann brothers in their prime. What was surprising was his apparent… well, life. From Del’s own mouth, she’s heard that his brothers were veritable corpses, kept alive only through the constant work of machinery and teams of engineers. While Gray certainly was old, he was very much alive. And if the travel records were to be believed, very much a globetrotter.

Germany, Japan, England, the United States, and Australia. All bastions of robotics and research. The telegrams told of arranged clandestine meetings, less than honest government officials and the slow accumulation of rudimentary artificial intelligence. Of particular note was a series of three telegrams from Australia. 

The telegrams had no name attached to them other than a single initial: W. All were sent from Australia, apparently to Gray. They were seemingly benign, discussing the use of “metal men” for jobs too dangerous for any non-Australian, particularly in the area of mining. Whoever this mysterious “W” was, they were the most likely source for at least some of the technology at Gray’s disposal. 

And recently. 

The latest telegram was dated only a few months ago. 

“//You have the look of a woman who has received some good news.//”

Spy looked up to see RED standing at the other end of the table, a cigarette in his hand as he sorted through some of the papers. She offered him the telegrams, which he took and looked over. His face was impassive, but she knew better, watching his eyes light up as he flipped from one to the next. 

“//Recent.//”

“//Yes. He may have the means, but he certainly hasn’t had the time.//”

“//Hopefully the Snipers will be able to confirm that.//” RED took a seat as he blew out a plume of smoke. “//I have spoken with the Administrator. She isn’t happy.//”

“//I wouldn’t imagine she is.//”

“//Apparently our proper little Miss Pauling did not exactly have clearance to take that file.//”

BLU paused, her lighter just out of reach of her own cigarette. “//Really?//”

“//I was just accused of being a corrupting influence.//” RED smiled. “//However, she has agreed that something needs to be done.//” Spy continued as he lay the telegrams back into the pile of papers. “//She is not keen on a repeat of what happened to you. Although, she had hoped that it would not come to this.//”

“//I suppose we won’t ever know the full story about them.//” Spy sighed and stood up, giving her back a stretch. “//Pitty.//”

***

Miss Pauling sat out on the back stoop of the kitchen, a lemonade in her hands. She hadn’t bothered leaving after the meeting. Leaving meant that she’d have to report to the Administrator. Reporting to the Administrator was going to mean being torn a structurally superfluous new behind, as Engineer was so fond of saying.

The briefing that morning had been short and none too sweet. She had more staggered then walked into the Administrator’s office after being woken up at an ungodly hour of the morning. Helen hadn’t even bothered turning around when she arrived, just pointed at the folder sitting on a nearby table and told her to look at the first few pages. Get an idea of the situation, return the folder to the file room, and then convince the mercenaries that they needed to stay put; the situation was well in control.

And instead she had taken it.

She was going to be so fired.

“Hey, Miss Pauling. What’s cookin’?”

Twisting around, she saw Scout standing in the doorway behind her, leaning up against the doorframe with a smile on his face.

Great. Not what she needed right now.

“Scout.” She forced a smile as she tried to think of some reason for not bolting; the memory of her conversation with the other Scout was still fresh. The last thing she wanted was to give him reason to hope that they would ever have a “thing.” On the other hand, she still had to work with the man, at least until she saw the Administrator again. “Just waiting. The Spies are going over the intel now.”

The runner hopped down the steps and leaned over the railing. “Yeah, I guess that’s what they’re good at.”

“Mmm.” Miss Pauling answered. 

Scout crossed his arms on the railing and rested his chin against them. She saw his foot tapping against the ground. Nervous energy. Taking a sip of her lemonade, she just gazed out in front of her. 

“Demo was kinda pissed, wasn’t he?”

She ran her fingers through her bangs, closing her eyes and wishing he’d go away. Scout was a nice guy, he really was. He just missed things. Things like social cues. 

But he wasn’t leaving. “It was understandable.” She finally responded.

“Lucky he was sober. He’s scary as shit with a few in him.”

“So you could have been scared by a drunk Demo instead of the regular one.” A laugh came from the kitchen. The other Scout leaned against the doorframe where her counterpart had been just minutes before.

Miss Pauling glanced over to see a scowl on Scout’s face. “I’m not scared of him. I said he can be scary. There’s a difference.”

“Sure, whatever.”

“‘Whatever?’ What’s that supposed to mean?”

Scout looked down the steps. “I’m just sayin you were awful quiet in there. That’s all.” She crossed her arms and stared straight at him. Miss Pauling saw some sort of gauntlet being thrown as they glared at each other. The Scout next to her pulled himself up off the railing and mirrored the crossed arms of the one behind her.

“I ain’t dumb. Gettin’ into it with the cyclops in the middle of briefing is a sure way to get your ass handed to you by Heavy.” He finally responded. 

“Thought you’d wanna stick up for Miss Pauling. For reasons.” 

“She don’t need me to do that.”

“Sure, whatever.” Scout knew she was pushing it. He had the exact same buttons she did. She watched as his jaw tightened and his hands clenched into fists.

“Forget this. I’ve got weapon maintenance to do.”

He made his way up the stairs, making sure to push past Scout as he walked back inside. Scout didn’t push back, but waited until she heard the kitchen door slam before joining Miss Pauling on the steps.

“I tried telling him. Didn’t believe me.”

Miss Pauling sighed. Scout fidgeted with her ponytail. 

“Thanks for trying.” Miss Pauling gave Scout a weak smile. “I’m going to just come out and tell him.”

“Do it before he gets the guts to tell you. Then he can pretend he didn’t even think of you that way. At least, that’s what I’d do.”

“Just… Not right now.” She bowed her head. “I’ve got to focus on how I’m going to keep my job.”

It was Scout’s turn to give her a look.

“I may have stolen that file from the Administrator.”

Scout’s mouth made a silent “Ohhhhh” as she realized the implication of what Miss Pauling was saying. Then she laughed. “Gutsy move, Miss P.”

Miss Pauling looked over, smiling slightly at the grin across Scout’s face.

“Thanks, Scout.”

***

The top of 2Fort was excellent for visibility. From there it was possible to see for miles in almost every direction. Or at least normally would, if the sun was up.

In the dark of night, two figures kept vigil, night time be damned. No man or woman left behind, and they would remain at their post until their squadmates returned. Both stood, ramrod straight, gazing out into the darkness.

“Are ye plannin’ on commin’ to bed anytime soon?” 

The BLU soldier turned around to see Demo silhouetted in the stairwell behind them. “Negatory! This post will not be abandoned!”

Demo stepped out onto the roof and slowly trod across the wooden deck. “Yer gonna be a wreck tomorrow, luv.”

When Soldier didn’t reply, the Scot ran a hand up her back, gently rubbing between shoulders that had to be sore after so many hours at her post. She smiled when she felt a little shudder, those broad shoulders drooping ever so slightly.

“Tired, hippie? Then I will maintain the watch!” Soldier barked from nearby. He didn’t move a muscle, but Demo could see the same strain his body as well. Her own Soldier tensed under her hand, and she just rolled an eye.

RED, BLU, man, woman; Soldiers were all the same stubborn breed. After a few minutes, she sat herself down next to John and leaned up against her leg. If she was going to be a stubborn ass, the least she could do was keep her company.

The three of them stayed on the roof through the night. Demo dozed lightly, her eye fluttering open whenever John shifted next to her. Eventually she heard a slight change in the breathing above her and looked up to see John’s eyes closed under her helmet as the woman swayed slightly on her feet. Demo quietly got up as she shook her head.

“John, ye thrawn auld lass.” 

They wouldn’t make it back to the bunks. John would just wake up and march right back to the roof. So, she wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist and slowly backed up, taking her weight against her and slowly lowering her to the ground. For a moment she thought about checking on the RED standing nearby, his own body swaying slightly from one side to the other, before sighing and carefully maneuvering him to the ground as well.

The night air was cold in the desert. John was warm. It wasn’t the worst place she’d ever fallen asleep, and they would have a lovely sunrise to wake up to.


	20. Chapter 20

Sniper’s eyes were almost seeing double by the time he slowed the truck to a stop outside the loading dock of Engineer’s workshop. Next to him, Sniper’s head was starting to droop, and he saw her jaw work, biting the inside of her mouth to keep herself awake.

The sun was just rising over the bridge that linked the RED and BLU compounds, and the clock on the dash read 6:00 AM. He sighed and cut the engine and they sat there for a few minutes as they worked up the energy to climb out of the cab.

“I’m getting too old for this.”

“That makes two of us.”

The bay door in front of them rolled up, opening up the workshop to the outside.

A hand gently shook her shoulder. “Heavens, the two of you look plum sewn up.” Engineer walked up to the passenger window. “You all right?”

“Knackered.” Sniper responded as she opened the door, staggering a little as she stepped to the ground.

Exiting the cab on the opposite side, Sniper walked around to back of the truck and lowered the tailgate. “We brought you a present.”

The BLUs joined him at the back and looked down at the broken Scout-bot. “Damn. Really hoped that I wouldn’t need to see another one of these things.” Engineer murmured as she reached out and twisted the thing’s head. “Looks a little odd.”

“Yeah, I thought so too.” Sniper agreed.

RED Engineer pushed a cart out into the open, bringing it around to the truck. BLU chased off the two Snipers, who were just about dead on their feet and then helped RED to pull the twisted mass of parts onto the cart and wheeled it into the workshop.

***

“Miss Pauling. Hey, wakey-wakey!”

Her eyes fluttered opened to see Scout leaning over her. Sitting up, she reached around, trying to remember where’d she put her glasses the night before. “What time is it?”

“Seven.” Scout whispered as she sat herself down next to Miss Pauling on the mattress and pulled her hair through the hole in the back of her cap. “We figured we’d let you sleep in a bit.”

Miss Pauling rolled her shoulders, stiff from a night on the floor. The thin Mann Co. mattresses really didn’t provide much in the way of padding. She got to her feet and started gathering up her clothes, thankful that the women had kept a few of the t-shirts that they’d previously been using for sleeping.

“Have Sniper and, uh, Sniper gotten back?”

Scout jerked her head towards the corner and Miss Pauling saw a figure buried under a pile of blankets. “About an hour ago. Then she came in here and passed out. But they brought something back. The gearheads are messin’ with it in the workshop right now.”

“Has anyone told the Administrator?”

“Don’t think so. The Spies wanted to have something to report first.” Scout stood back up and headed towards the door. “There’s still some breakfast in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”

“Thanks.” Scout gave her a smile and ducked out, leaving Miss Pauling alone with a sleeping Sniper in the corner.

She hadn’t really intended to fall asleep at the base, but when it came down to it, she really didn’t want to go back to her apartment while she was on the Administrator’s bad side. After pulling her clothes on, she left the bunk room to find Scout waiting outside and the two made their way to the kitchen.

The faint smell of sausage and bacon was still in the air as they entered the room, and the trappings of the meal were still scattered across the table. “Settle in. Tammy said she’d save somethin’ for you.” Scout pointed to a chair as she made her way to the fridge.

“Tammy? Oh, Demo, right?”

“Yeah.” Scout pulled out a pitcher of juice and set it on the table before turning to pull a covered plate out of the oven. “She’s kinda particular about using her name when we’re not on the clock. Says she likes to keep work and play separate. It’s still warm, by the way.” She added, setting the plate down. “You a coffee drinker?”

“Yes please.” Miss Pauling pulled the napkin off and started poking at the breakfast in front of her. Bacon, sausage, eggs and toast. Just the sort of breakfast she’d figured a bunch of mercenaries would have. She watched Scout as she sniffed the pot of coffee, made a face, immediately poured it out and started a fresh pot and then hoisted herself onto the counter to wait.

Soon the smell of fresh coffee filled the room and Scout set two mugs on the table. A little cream, a little sugar and both women were happily caffeinated.  
“So, have you all given any thought to what you’re going to do once this Gray thing is done?” Miss Pauling asked the question carefully. “I mean, I know you weren’t wanting to go back, but you still have to do something.”

Scout was quiet. “Hadn’t really thought about it too much. Find work as a merc somewhere, I guess. It’s really what all of us have always done.”

“Is that hard as women? I mean, you managed to capture this place, so I know it’s not like you aren’t good, but…”

“But getting someone to take us seriously, you mean?”

“Yeah. Women in a man’s world and all that.”

“Spy says there’s always someone. Even if it’s just for the novelty.” Scout shrugged. “We’ll find something.”

“I might have to ask to tag along if the whole stealing intelligence from my boss thing doesn’t work out in my favor.”

“I wouldn’t say no.”

Miss Pauling looked over at Scout. There was a little blush at the tips of her ears and her eyes were solidly focused on the mug in her hands.

She felt a little warmth in her own face, but told herself it was just the coffee.

***

It was early afternoon when Spy entered the workshop. She and RED Spy had continued delving through the pile of intelligence all morning, but now she needed a new distraction until the Snipers woke up.

From the top of the stairs, she paused as she watched the Texans bustle about, completely oblivious to her presence. A large tarp had been spread over the floor, the pieces of the robot carefully laid out across it. The thing had been completely torn apart by the engineers, bolt by bolt, the pieces placed as if it were being displayed in a museum.  
The soft leather of her shoes made no noise as she walked towards the tarp. Looking down at the thing spread in front of her, she felt a chill go down her spine. She remembered the first time she’d seen on of these bearing down on her, a scene that had played itself out in too many nightmares since.

“It’s an interesting tear down.”

Spy looked up to see the Engineers on the other side of the tarp. She tapped the head with her toe and nodded. “Everything looks so harmless like this.”

“A knife to the main motor wiring will do that.” Engineer picked the head up and turned it around in her hands. “But I’ve got some good news.”

“Indeed?”

“Yup!” Engineer smiled. “This is the most basic construction I’ve ever seen on a robot. I mean, not that the Scout-bots were ever super high tech, but with some basic research this is something that I could have put together in grad school as a club project.”

“The machining isn’t great.” RED pointed to tool marks along the metal pieces that had made up the robot’s legs. “And the wiring is rough. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this looked more like a prototype than a final product.”

“So this may mean that there aren’t more?”

“Or if there are, there probably aren’t many.”

Spy pondered the information. It probably was too much to hope for that this was the only robot that had been built. A carrier tank wouldn’t make sense if that were the case. But going head to head with Gray without worrying about Sentry Busters or Giants would at least make things a little easier.

“I will go speak with Spy.” She turned and headed back to the door. “I have a feeling we will need to take action soon.”

She had only gotten a little way when she heard the sound of boots behind her. “Yvette.” Spy turned to see Engineer trotting to catch up to her. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“But of course.”

The shorter woman paused, taking off her hard hat and scratching her head. “Is something going on with you and him? Engineer?”

Well, that was somewhat unexpected.

Spy smiled and gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “A little teasing. He flusters so easily, I cannot resist.”

“He mentioned that you were in the kitchen night before last.”

A blush was creeping into the engineer’s face, and Spy had to suppress a laugh. Del was cute when she was flustered as well. It must be a Conagher trait. “He was making cocoa and, like a gentleman, offered me some as well.” She leaned forward and pulled Del into a hug. “Mon ami, is it so strange? He is very much like my best friend, after all.”

“It’s just… I mean, is it just teasin’?” Del looked up at her. “‘Cause if it’s not, that’s putting you in the camp of not going home.”

Spy gave her a squeeze. “Honestly, I don’t know. There is little there for me, and not because of the robots. It has been that way for a long time. Would it be so bad for us to stay? All of us?”

“It feels like giving up.”

“Sometimes it is better to cut your losses. Your papa, he would want you to be safe, non?”

Del was quiet, and Spy did not push her.

“One thing at a time.” Del gently slipped out of Spy’s arms and gave her a crooked smile. ”We’ll come back to this after we take care of these over-sized wind up toys.”

***

“The Scout-bot is still missing.”

“What about its tracer?”

“Went dead last night.”

“And explain to me again how this happened.”

“We had it on for the new body upgrade, last one on the list. One of the perimeter alarms went off and we went to go check. We had put it into standby, but somehow it  
switched to patrol and was gone when we got back. It shouldn’t have been able to get far since the upgrade wasn’t finished…”

“And yet it has vanished from the face of the planet.”

“Yes sir.”

“Which would lead me to believe that your perimeter check wasn’t as thorough as you thought.”

“…”

“No answer for that? No matter. I have a good idea of where it is now. Prepare the carrier and wait for my order to move. I’m curious to see how they perform with the new enhancements.”


	21. Chapter 21

Once the Snipers had recovered from their nocturnal excursion the Spies had spent an hour debriefing them. Milking every detail from the memory of the assassins, they had put the information together with what the Engineers had been able to discover from the Scout-bot and the intelligence from the folder Miss Pauling had liberated from the Administrator’s files.

The whole experience had been rather exhilarating. A spy could only get but so much satisfaction out of a daily grind of simple intelligence theft, after all.

“Another team meeting?” Scout scowled as he slouched in his chair. “I mean, not that I don’t love all this quality time and all… Hey!”

“I think we all have a vested interest in not dying, Scout.” Spy gave him a quick swat with a stack of papers as he took his own place at the head of the briefing room table. His gaze swept the room, taking in the eighteen pairs of eyes looking back at him. 

“My fellow mercenaries. Today we stand on the edge of perhaps one of the most monumental occasions in mankind’s history: The day when we prove our mettle over machine.” He gave a nod to Pyro, who cut the lights. With a flick of a switch, Spy turned on the projector he had set up before the meeting. 

Up on the wall was projected a map of the surrounding desert. With a flourish, he pointed to a location some way from the base. “As of last night, this is where Gray and his robotic army are located, approximately sixteen kilometers from here. When the Snipers were there, they saw only the one Scout-bot, which they were able to subdue and bring back here.” He looked over to his side where there Engineers stood, both with their arms crossed and grim looks on their faces.

“The design of the Scout-bot is basic.” Engineer stepped up to the projector and lay a new overlay down, replacing the map with a drawing of the robot. “Compared to the last few of these snakes that we ran across, it’s downright primitive. If this ‘bot was anything to go by, conventional weaponry should be able to take care of ‘em well enough.”

Sitting at the end of the table, Heavy leaned forward. “So this means what?”

“This means, that this is going to be our best opportunity to strike at Mann’s heart first.” BLU Spy replied as she pulled out a folded document from the file. “The folder that was so kindly provided by Miss Pauling had the basic schematics for the carrier.” Carefully unfolding the paper, she lay it out on the table as everyone gathered round.

“The carrier is powered by a central reactor, mostly likely powered by Australium, that is located here.” She tapped the paper to indicate a room in the lowest level of the carrier. “This reactor will also be what is powering the communications, manufacturing and repair of the robots. We destroy this, we cripple Mann. Any remaining robots would have no way to receive orders, and it would simply be a matter of picking them off.”

“But you’d have to get inside first.” Miss Pauling pushed her glasses up as she examined the blueprint. “And the only options look to be either the bridge window or the front bay door. They’re not just going to open that up for us.”

Demo looked at the schematic. “That’s two meter thick titanium-laced steel.” He tapped the paper thoughtfully. “It’s beyond what a sticky bomb can do, but…”

“Yer thinking a PIAT, aren’t ye?” 

He looked over to the demo-woman across from him. “Aye. Shaped charged and give it a little kick.”

“Not standard design, then?” 

“Hadn’t had a reason to experiment for a while.” He grinned. “Should be a spot of fun.”

“What’s a PIAT?” Miss Pauling looked concerned. High grade explosives did that to her.

“Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank.” Demo quickly rattled off the acronym. “A nice wee piece ‘o kit for takin’ out armored targets.”

“We’ll just have to kick it up a bit on account o’ the titanium” Demo looked over at the BLU Soldier standing next her. “I’m gonna need to requisition yer rocket launcher, luv.”

Soldier gave her a quick salute. “For the cause!”

Scout’s fingers were drumming against the table, the nervous energy needing somewhere to go now that the reality of the situation was really settling in on him. “So that gets us in the front door, but after that?”

“Oh nae, laddie, we’re nae going through the door.” Demo gave him a slap on the back. “This beauty is going to take us right up into the belly of the beast!”

“Wait, what?”

“These things are made to take hits from the side. They won’t be expectin’ a hit from the bottom.”

Spy leaned forward. “Let me understand. You are proposing to build some type of explosive projectile, oui?” 

The Demos nodded. 

“And then you are proposing that it be launched from underneath the carrier?”

They nodded again.

“Would that not be suicide?”

“Aye. It would be.” Demo leaned to her left and wrapped an arm around Medic. “But not if yer bulletproof.”

“That… Could just be mad enough to work.” Spy stood back, lighting a cigarette as he mulled it over. “Taking the power out quickly, it would simplify things immensely.”

“An ÜberCharge would be useful for only a short time.” Medic pointed out. “It would have to be deployed perfectly, or… Or combined with a shield!” Her eyes lit up. “Ja, ja, that could work! A shield would take the brunt of any explosion, and that would leave the ÜberCharge to take care of the rest.” She spun around in her chair and grabbed her counterpart’s hands. “It is an amazing little adjustment! So simple, but amazingly effective!”

“It is at least a place to start.” Spy switched off the projector as he signaled Pyro to turn on the lights. “Demos, Doctors, you have your duties. The rest of you should take this opportunity to rest. Once they are ready, we will need to move.”

***

Medic opened the door to his Medi-Gun storage, revealing an amazing assortment of nozzles and backpacks. Taking one that had an under-slung container of an odd red liquid into his hands, he turned and showed it to the other doctor.

“The Vaccinator. Capable of targeting highly specific external stimuli and countering it. Highly effective against fire, concussive blast damage and ballistic injury.” He carried the nozzle and pack over to the examination table and set it down. “It will also deploy an ÜberCharge on up to four individuals.”

“That would be perfect.” Medic smiled as she picked up her pack. She held the nozzle out for Medic to examine. “An upgrade I made when it became clear that we were dealing with overwhelming forces.” She flipped the Medi-Gun on, and a flash of red filled the operating theater. 

When Medic’s eyes were able to focus again, he saw a red rectangle of energy about three meters wide and two meters high. 

“It allows projectiles to go through from this side, but try pushing from the other.”

He walked abound so that he was looking through at Medic and extended his hand. His fingers pressed into the thrumming wall, but did not pass through. “Erstaunlich.” A grin crossed his face. “How much will this repel?”

“Rockets and bombs larger than Soldier’s and Demo’s.” Medic replied. “It would sap most of the energy, but it should be enough to hold up for one large blast.”

“I do not like this, Inge.” Heavy crossed her arms as she watched the two doctors tinker. “It will be dangerous.”

“Of course it will, Schatz.” Medic smiled. “But think of it, we could stop Gray.”

Heavy frowned. Medic was right, of course, but the idea of her lover being out there on the field without her left her cold. 

The Vaccinator could protect four people; two doctors and two demos. 

“Heavies will not be there to protect Medics.” Heavy walked up next to his own doctor, pressing his own hand onto the wall of energy, the muscles in his arm straining as he tested its strength. “Will this be enough?”

Medic turned off her pack. “Between this and the ÜberCharge it will have to be.”

Heavy only responded with a grunt, his eyes narrowing and jaw tightening. He had been in this job long enough to know that danger was an essential part of it, but working so long for Mann Co. had a way to taking the edge off of death. Respawn had been part of his life since the day he started, and now to think of his doctor going into a situation where death - permanent death - was a real possibility, a coldness gripped his heart like he hadn’t felt in years.

“Misha.” He looked down when he felt his doctor’s hand on his arm. “We have to do this.”

“Da. I know. Still do not like.”

He started when he felt a pair of arms slip around his waist, Medic pulling him close and resting his head on his chest. It was not something they did when there was anyone else around.

“They understand, you know.” Medic murmured, smiling as he felt the giant’s hands tentatively find their way around him. 

Heavy looked over at the women, who gave him a nod before turning to have their own private discussion.

“Da. I know.”


	22. Chapter 22

The desert air was quiet; the only noises coming from the wind gently blowing across the open lands. Every so often the lonesome wail of a coyote carried across the plains.

It had sat under the sky, unmoving, for months. Scrub had started growing beneath the massive treads, climbing its way skyward. Snakes and lizards basked on the warm metal during the day; mice and other small animals finding shelter in them at night.

Finally, after sleeping for so long, the metal beast woke up, and the treads slowly started to turn.

“Bloody hell, this is gonna ruin those clankers’ day!” Demo chuckled as they pulled the massive PIAT up onto the table. “Can ye imagine takin’ this up the arse?”

“Not my area of expertise.” Demo teased as she ran her fingers over the fins to check that they were straight. “But pure dead brilliant it is. Perfect for sendin’ those tin cans straight to hell!”

It had taken the two of them the better part of the night to calculate out the exact mixture and amount of explosives that they were going to need. The Medics had given them their best estimate on how much force the Medi-Shield would be able to deflect, and how much of a buffer the ÜberCharge could allow. A dusty chalkboard in the corner was covered in chemical formulas and blast diagrams, their final decision circled and underlined with strong, bold lines.

The final product was massive, the design entirely impractical for any sort of real combat with an oversized explosive warhead perched on top of the largest motor that Soldier’s launcher could take. But they didn’t need precision accuracy. 

From as close as they were going to get, there was no way they were going to miss.

“So which one o’ us is gonna carry this beastie into battle?” Demo wiped his hands before tossing her a bottle of Red Shed. 

Demo popped the cap with a nearby screw driver as she looked at the rocket launcher Soldier had given up for the cause. “It’s gonna be both of us. One for the rocket, one for the launcher. I’d wager Heavy would have a hard time carrying both.”

“Yer lass gonna be good without it?” 

She glanced up. Demo was most certainly not meeting her eye as he asked the question. “Aye, she’ll be fine. She’s a tough bird, even if she started out with BLU.” 

Tipping back the bottle, she watched Tavish as he started putting away the chemicals that they’d been mixing the entire night. Given the undercurrent that she’d heard in the question, there was a story there, but not one that he seemed inclined to share. She’d noticed that there hadn’t been the same interplay between him and Soldier here, not like the Medics and Heavies, who seemed to be two sides of the same coin. 

Stubborn, the whole line. Maybe it was a DeGroot trait, standing silent on such things. Lord know she would have if Gray hadn’t started taking over the world. She and John would have spent the rest of their days blowing each other up with bombs and rockets after that misunderstanding. It was worth it to never mention the word “civilian” again.

She swirled the last of the beer in the bottom of the bottle before finishing it off and throwing it into the trash. “Ye know, once this is all over, ye should probably have a conversation. Ye might find it worth yer time.”

***

It was nice to finally have a chance to look up at the stars again.

Sniper pulled her legs up underneath her as she gently worked her kukri across the whetstone in front of her. The easy rhythm of the moment was calming and let her center herself. As much as she loved her girls, spending almost a week cooped up in that bunk room was starting to make her skin crawl. Her new perch was much more comfortable. A canopy of stars shone above her; the sounds of nature providing a peaceful background to the night. The borrowed bedroll tucked behind her smelled of campfires and earth. It smelled like home.

Below her there was a gentle rocking and muffled footsteps. There was a sound of a door opening and a heavenly aroma wafted up.

“Cuppa?”

Looking over from the top of the camper, she saw Sniper leaning out, #1 Sniper mug in one hand. RED lettering. Of course.

“Ace.” She smiled and climbed down the ladder at the back. Ducking into the camper, she squinted in the light and settled herself at the small table inside. The RED set another mug in front of her before turning to a small cooler and pulling out a small carton of cream. 

She hadn’t quite known what to expect when he’d made the offer to share his campsite, but she was glad to have taken him up on the offer. He’d given her the option for the cot or the roof. She’d happily taken the roof. It had been far too long since she’d been under the stars.

There wasn’t much conversation between them. They didn’t need it. 

It was nice having someone who seemed to understand that sometimes quiet was enough. She was still on the fence about trying to find a way home, but she had to admit that she would miss this.

“So, any tricks you wanna share before tomorrow?”

“Aim for the eyes. Don’t bother with bows. Watch for laser sights.” She added a little sugar as she noticed a raised eyebrow. “It’s the give away for the Sniper-bots.”

“Lovely.”

***

“Well, ain’t that a cute little thing.”

Engineer looked up to see RED standing over her. She gave him a grin as she turned back to the mini-sentry in front of her. The little turret swung back and forth, little beeps pinging at the end of every arc. 

“Can’t be piggy-backin’ off of you once we get going.” Leaning in, she made a slight adjustment to the pivot, smoothing out the motion of the little gun. “Having your sentry’s gonna be all well and good, but no sense in having only one gun when you’ve got two engineers. Wish you had some different paint colors, though. Putting this thing together with leftover RED parts just feels wrong. No offense.”

“None taken.” The Texan chuckled and knelt down to get a closer look at the sentry. “What’s the output on this little guy?”

“It’s got 50% more output but 50% less damage compared a base sentry. But it’s a hell of a lot more portable. Figured it’d be useful considering we don’t know exactly what we’ll be running into out there.”

Engineer gave a thoughtful hum as he looked at the miniaturized design.

The BLU got up and started clearing away the excess parts that were left over. Despite working from memory, the little combat sentry had gone together quickly. Heaven knew she’d had to build enough of them. She dumped the extra scrap into the bin and watched as Engineer poked at the pivoting gun. The little sentry had locked on to him and was tracking his hand back and forth as he chuckled.

“Hey, about Spy…”

Engineer looked over at her, raising his goggles to rest on the rim of his hard hat. “Yeah?”

“She’s not botherin’ you, is she? I mean, she’s a handful sometimes.”

It was a little hard to see against the red of his shirt, but she was certain that there was a hint of a blush creeping up the back of his neck. “Naw, she ain’t botherin’ me. I mean, Spies are like that, right? They all have their own way of workin’ you and you just gotta figure ‘em out. I figure she’ll get bored of it eventually.”

“Hm. Maybe.” BLU walked up to the mini-sentry and collapsed it. All it needed was a fresh clip and it’d be ready for a firefight.

“You gonna be much later? I’m gonna call it a night here in a few.”

She shook her head. “Got a few more things to do. I’ll turn off the lights when I’m done.”

RED gave her a nod, turning out the light in the vehicle bay as he left.

Engineer set the mini-sentry down on the bench and loaded it up. There was a small hitch in the loading, so she grabbed a small screwdriver to make another adjustment. As she turned the screw, there a hitch in her fingers, causing her to drop the screwdriver.

“Tarnation…” She muttered, flexing her hand. Pulling off her glove, she flexed each finger, carefully eyeing the movement in the joints. It had been too long since she’d properly taken care of it, even since getting here. 

Her shoulders slumped and she turned to Engineer’s supply of electric components. She’d need to be in top form when they went against the robots, so that meant taking care of herself as well as the sentry.

She could sleep when she was dead.

***

Scout rolled over, propping her head up on her elbow. On the next mattress over, Miss Pauling was laying on her stomach, pen light in her mouth as she flipped through a stack of the papers from the Administrator’s file. It was still weird to see her like this, hair loose and hanging over her shoulders, the sleeve of the t-shirt she was using as a nightgown sliding off one shoulder.

On the other hand, it was still a little weird thinking about MISS Pauling. 

MISTER Pauling was a bit of a tightass.

“You gonna be up a while?”

Miss Pauling looked over, blinding Scout with the light before dropping it. “Sorry! Sorry.” She grimaced as she fumbled with it for a few moments, finally getting it turned off. “I just want to be prepared for whatever happens.”

“You gonna come with us?” Scout scooted over towards Miss Pauling’s mattress and picked up a few of the pages. She’d been looking at the schematics of the carrier, and a smaller version of the map.

“I can’t just stay here while you all go and save the world from the robot menace.” Miss Pauling gathered the papers back up. She tucked the file under the edge of her mattress before taking off her glasses and setting them to the side. “I can handle myself with a gun. Not bad with a shovel, either.”

Scout grinned. “Willing to steal the intelligence and kick some robot ass. You’re pretty badass, Miss P. If you don’t work things out with the Administrator, you probably could make a decent merc.”

Miss Pauling smiled and lay her head down on her pillow as she looked over at Scout. “Don’t know that a battlefield is my idea of a good work environment. I’m more of an administrative type who does the occasional cleanup job.”

“Ah, it’s easy once you get into it.”

Miss Pauling shook her head, running her fingers through her hair. “This is going to be a one off. Then I’ll find myself a nice office somewhere and try not to get killed by my current boss.”

“The offer stands to run away with me… And the rest of the team.” Scout finished quickly. “We’re gonna need someone like you.”

Miss Pauling was quiet for a moment before answering. 

“We survive tomorrow, and I’ll consider it.”

***

Up on the roof the Pyros were carefully putting their plan into motion. They’d had to rework some of the elements after Sniper (both of them) had refused to help them find the weasels that were in the first draft, but this second plan was just as good. There was nothing as romantic as a sunrise, after all.

They waited in the corner as they carefully watched Balloonicorn and Balloonasaurus. Both of them were holding their breath, holding on to each other as the inflatables just gazed into each other’s eyes. Unmoving. Both were proud creatures, but surely love would triumph in the end.

Perhaps it was the wind, perhaps fate, but slowly the two drifted towards each other. As their muzzles grew closer, the Pyros felt their hearts beating so fast that it felt like they would burst right out of their flame-retardant suits. Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet shook, a low rumble filling the air sending the inflatables slowly bobbing away from each other. 

They spun around, masks the very picture of fury, to see what had interrupted them at this critical moment. And they saw it, sitting just on the horizon.

The carrier.


	23. Chapter 23

Soldier’s boots thundered down the halls of the dormitory wing. His fist beat down against doors, ripping the occupants inside from their sleep.

“RISE AND SHINE, MAGGOTS! WE HAVE INTRUDERS ON THE EASTERN FRONT!”

There was a spring in his step, a grin plastered across his face and there was a glint in his eye. Each day brought a new battle, but this time it was going to be different. 

Today the war was real.

He burst onto the roof, nearly kicking the door open, to find the two Spies gazing out towards the horizon. Behind them, the Pyros watched as they huddled together. He snapped into a salute, heels clopping together. “The troops have been rallied!” Spy turned and just gave Soldier a nod before returning his gaze to the sight before them. 

“So this is it.”

It wasn’t a question, but Spy nodded her response anyway.

“It is… bigger than I imagined.”

“It is not the size, but what is inside that you should be concerned with.”

“When will we be fighting the robots?”

Spy turned and walked towards Soldier as she pulled out her lighter. “The bay door is not open. That means there is still some time.” 

“Holy crap, that thing’s huge!” Scout’s mouth dropped open as he wandered out. “THAT’S what you guys have been talking about?”

“Oui.” 

Spy watched as the other mercenaries filed on to the roof and took in the sight in front of them. Reactions spanned the spectrum: Fear, anger, worry, excitement, bloodlust. The men and women in front of her were like few others on earth. Women who had watched their entire lives be snatched from them, men who knew what they had to lose, and seventeen mercenaries who were so intimately familiar with death that they had returned to it time and time again.

It was only that fact that gave her any hope for success. 

The carrier loomed large, silhouetted by the rising sun. Large radio arrays spun from the top, the windows of the bridge lit from within. As they watched, a low groan sounded as the large bay door at the front of the carrier slowly start to drop. Dipping below the roofline of the BLU compound, there was an earth shaking thud as it hit the ground, followed by a low rumble. 

Hopping up on the edge of the roof, Sniper pulled up his scope. “They’re coming.” Shifting his position, he slowly zoomed in, watching as Scout-bots poured out, skittering like roaches running from the light. “Hooly dooly, there’s a lot of them.” 

“Then it’ll be time for us to be gettin’ on our way.” Demo growled. “We’ve got a nice surprise waitin’ for special delivery.”

“Demo, here.” Miss Pauling held the intelligence folder close as she flipped through the papers. She finally found what she was looking for and handed the carrier schematic to the Scotsman. “Good luck.” 

RED Spy lit a cigarette as he looked towards the east. “Go. Now. We will all be depending on your success.”

***

“Erecting a dispenser!”

The Dispense-O-Matic 9000 Provisions Dispenser was heavy, clunky and indispensable. Securing the building to the top of the , Engineer looked down and across to see BLU setting a second one up behind the pump room. Healing up high and down low. And with both Medics off with the Demos, they were going to need every bit of both of them. 

The sentries had been laid to cover as much ground as possible with the level three pointed directly at the gate, and BLU’s mini-sentry positioned a little further back to pick off anything that made it through.

“They’re closing in on the gate!” Miss Pauling’s voice echoed across the base as it boomed out from the loudspeakers. She had been directed to an observation tower at the center of the base, once used for the mine’s site managers, but now the spot from where she would be watching the battle play out below her. 

“The Scout-bots are going to be the first wave!” Scout shouted to the young man running next to her as they made their way towards the small sheds that were nestled just inside the gates. “They’re fast little shits, and hit hard. Don’t bother with a bat and don’t run in a straight line!”

“//They’re glorified sentries. The sapper will be the most effective thing you have for anything larger than a Scout-bot.//” Spy blew a plume of smoke out the window as she watched RED swinging his balisong in his hand. “//But don’t worry. Cut enough wires in their neck and they’ll still go down.//”

Across the compound, Sniper lowered her rifle, readjusting her line of sight to make sure she could catch the first of those clanging bastards that got past the Engineers’ sentries. She looked over to the other side of the central path that led through the fort and saw RED doing the same. He caught her gaze and gave her a quick tip of his hat before pointing at his eyes. She gave him a simile. He remembered.

They lurked, quietly waiting. RED had wanted to stay with Engineer, keep him safe like usual, but BLU knew better. The Spy-Bots were never there at first. They would come later. Until then, they would hide, wait for the robots to pass.

And then they would burn.

Soldiers were born for battle. No words needed to be said to each other as they stood just behind the battlements. This is what they lived for. 

While RED focused, BLU’s mind drifted. She’d had Tammy back for such a short time after everything that they’d missed. Her fingers tightened around the grip of the rocket launcher she’d taken from the armory. Like hell she was going to let overgrown toys stop her from making that up.

**BOOM!**

Everyone paused, momentarily shaken by the sudden sound.

**BOOM!**

“//They are here.//” Heavy looked over at her counterpart as she hoisted Misha on her hip. “//Good luck, my brother.//”

Spinning Sasha up, Heavy looked back at her and nodded. “//Good luck, my sister.//”

***

Medic had spent enough time under 2Fort in the past few weeks to last her the rest of her life, but this was the only route that would get them outside without being detected. They moved through the drainage tunnels in silence, their footsteps already sounding impossibly loud in their ears. Above the they heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions.

The battle had begun.

It took twenty excruciating minutes to reach the end of the tunnel, a single grated exit at the base of the the hills that surrounded the base. Placing his hand against the metal, Demo gave a shove. The grate shook around the bolts that held it on, but otherwise stayed in place. 

“Dinne suppose anyone thought to bring a wrench?” He looked back at the Medics and Demo.

“Are you serious?” Medic exclaimed, slamming his fist into his palm. “We have not gotten this far to be stopped by a gate!”

“O’ course not, Doc.” Demo reached for the sticky bombs that rested in his pouch. “But ye all are gonna want to step back.”

***

The pounding at the doors grew louder, more instant, and the whirring of motors and mechanics intensified as the wood groaned. Finally, there was a crack as the whole thing collapsed, sending a gray wave of metal spilling into the courtyard of the base.

Miniguns spinning, both Heavies let out a yell, bullets flying as Scout-bot after Scout-bot dropped to the ground. Rockets from the Soldiers few towards the gate, sending up thick plumes of black smoke as oil oozed and burned. Sentries were firing from the roofs, picking off anything missed by the Heavies and Soldiers.

As the miniguns spun down, the Heavies pulled back. Without the healing beam of the Medi-Guns, getting close to the quickly moving robots was too dangerous. 

Loud cracks rang out from the rooftops as the Snipers targeted as many as possible, sending one Scout-bot after another tumbling into the dirt. 

The flood of robots seemed almost endless when the Scouts and Pyros jumped in. Bursts of flame jumped in the air as the liquid ignited, smelting the outer shells to the point where an solid ax strike would finish them off. 

Scouts dodged and weaved as they kept pace with the frantically moving robots. As they emptied scattershots, other robots fell around them, twitching and jerking as sparks flew in every direction. The blurred outlines of Spies faded in and out as sappers were deployed and knives buried.

From the tower Miss Pauling watched the scene unfolding beneath her. Grabbing a pair of binoculars from the desk, she looked out beyond the gate to see a second wave heading in.

“Big ones are coming!” She yelled into the microphone. “Heavies and Demos!” Pulling the binoculars back up, something odd caught her eye. “Are you kidding me?” 

She flipped the microphone back on. “That Demo-bot has a bomb strapped to it!” 

“You heard the lady!” Soldier bellowed. “Do not let that robot get to the base!”

“And here come more Scout-bots!”

“Are you kiddin’ me?!” Engineer growled as he reloaded the sentry. He pulled out his wrench to reset one of the legs when a sudden explosion knocked him off his feet, sending him tumbling through the roof into the room below, the sentry crashing down after him.

“We’re down a sentry and a dispenser!”Sniper called from her perch as she watched the Engineer disappear. 

A wall of metal walked through the gate. Heavy- and Demo-bots trudging forward, miniguns and explosives shooting forward. Another wave of Scout-bots swarmed around them, splitting off to the sides, sending the Pyros scrambling to the roofs. 

In the middle of it all, the single bomb-armed Demo-bot stopped. From his cloaked position, Spy watched it. The thing was looking for something, its head turning first one way, then the next. Finally, it seemed to settle on a course and turned, two of the Heavy-bots adjusting course and following as well.

Spy suddenly had an awful realization. 

“They are heading for the power station! That will kill respawn!”

“Not on my watch!” Soldier bellowed, angling his rocket launcher down to send himself sailing over Spy and towards the three robots. He landed with a grunt, feeling the strain that the jump took on his body. Swinging the launcher around he sent another rocket into the nearest Heavy-bot, knocking it back, but not taking it down. 

All three lumbering giants paused, but only the one that had been hit turned its attention to the man standing in front of it. Slowly turning, the Heavy-bot raised its own gun, the barrel starting to spin. 

He unloaded another rocket. The Heavy-bot staggered back, dropping the muzzle of the gun. Soldier grinned as he saw the damage. The rockets had torn a gaping hole in the chest of the Heavy-bot, sparks jumping and the body starting to twitch and jerk. One more rocket would equal one dead robot. 

“Reboot in robot hell, you tin savage!”

He never saw the Scout-bot coming up behind him, bat cracking him across the back and sending him to the ground. 

The last thing Soldier saw was the Demo-bot raising the bomb above its head.

***

Medic looked back over her shoulder as she felt the blast, watching the cloud of smoke rise from the fort. Her breath hitched in her chest as the wooden walls of 2Fort slowly was slowly engulfed in flames.

“Sasha...”

There was a gentle tug on her sleeve and she looked down at the demo-woman on the next ledge up. “Need ye with me, Doc.”

Shaking her head, Medic resumed her climb.

The four mercenaries moved as quickly as they dared; the urgency of their trek tempered by the knowledge that there was only going to be one chance. There was one warhead. One rocket. If they couldn’t reach the carrier, 2Fort would fall.


	24. Chapter 24

_The power station. If it goes down, we’re all dead._

That was the only thought running through Engineer’s head as she peeked out from behind the dispenser to watch the Demo-bot hoist the bomb over its head. While respawn may have been at the front of the men’s minds, the power station also provided the energy that ran the dispensers. Losing that meant that no healing, and dead was going to be dead.

Carefully standing up, her knees shook under her as she looked around, trying to get a look at the field while keeping herself out of the robots’ line of sight. Leaning out from behind the shed, she saw a figure in red laid out in front of a damaged Heavy-bot.

The hulking form slowly raised the muzzle of their minigun over the still form.

“Damnit.”

Snatching the mini-sentry from its post, Engineer dashed out into the open. She dropped the turret on the ground, the gun firing almost as soon as it hit the ground. They tore into the gaping hole in the Heavy-bot’s chest, sending it backwards as its minigun shot wildly into the air. Stopping long enough to grab her shotgun, Engineer pushed forward to try and reach the motionless body. 

“Hold up!” Sniper’s voice called out from above. He gestured left, and she saw the Pyros yank their axes out of the back of a Demo-bot’s head and rush to the prone figure. Engineer pulled back, keeping her shotgun ready.

If there was someone out on the field, they needed help if they were still alive and a dispenser was the only way they were going to get it. The roofline where RED had been was conspicuously empty, which likely meant that hers was the only one still functional. Moving it at this point wasn’t an option; it was the only healing they had. 

The Pyros quickly decreased the distance between them and the body on the ground. Scout-bots rushed from every direction, dropping one by one as the Snipers and the mini-sentry fired into the swarm. Under the heavy cover, the firebugs grabbed Soldier under his arms and started running towards Engineer and the dispenser.

As she watched the Pyros, a shimmer of red light flickered at the edge of her vision, a mirage-like dashing across the field before disappearing into thin air.

Spy.

“Keep up the fire!” She called up to the Snipers. “He’s going for the Demo!”

She quickly reloaded the mini-sentry and met the Pyros at the dispenser as they lay the battered Soldier at its base. A low groan escaped as they set him down, and Engineer turned off the material maker to focus all of the energy on the Medi-Dispenser. If Spy didn’t succeed, Solder needed as much as she could get him while she could.

***

His ears were ringing.

Engineer’s eyes slowly opened and were immediately shut as he waited for the world to stop moving. As lay there, he became aware of something cradling his head. There was a light touch against his cheek and, as the ringing in his ears died down, a soft voice saying something he couldn’t understand. He tried sitting up, but a gentle pressure kept him in place.

“Do not move.” He felt a warm breath against his ear. “Give yourself a moment.”

Engineer wasn’t inclined to disobey, every bit of him was in a world of hurt.

As his senses started to come back, he tried opening his eyes again. Blue eyes were looking down at him, and he could see the worry at their edges. 

“You wouldn’t have happened to get the number of that bus?” 

A smile played at the corner of Spy’s mouth. 

“Grenade. I had to pull you out from under your little toys.”

“Shit.” Engineer sat up, a wave of dizziness hitting him as he felt hands rest on his shoulders to steady him. “I gotta get that dispenser back up.”

Spy didn’t respond as she helped the man to his feet. She could have lied, told him that Del had everything under control. But the gunfire outside was loud enough for him to hear even in his addled state. He was shaky, swaying as he looked over the pile of wreckage. She heard him muttering under his breath as he carefully bent down to evaluate the damage.

“Can it be fixed?” She asked as he carefully tried to untangle the mix of parts.

“It can. Just gonna take some time.” Engineer stood back up, stumbling as he did. Spy slid close, wrapping an arm under his, holding him there until she felt the tremors leave his body. “Musta got hit a little harder than I thought.”

***

Spy watched as the Pyros carried Soldier off the field. Idiot though the man was, he had bought them valuable time. Respawn was still functioning, but not knowing how injured he was or how long it would take him to die, he would rather not take the chance given that there was a bomb pointed directly at the power station.

When the skirmish had started he had followed the lead of his BLU counterpart. Using her cloak liberally, she skirted the edge of the fight, backstabbing the Scout-bots who strayed too far from the swarm. Between the two of them, they were able to thin the swarm, bringing them down to a manageable level for the others to take with a direct attack.

When the Heavy- and Demo-bots had arrived, she had deployed sappers, delaying as many of them as she could while dispatching others with a quick cut to the wires at their back. But the sudden assault of grenades and miniguns had pushed everyone back, sending the Pyros running for cover, while a well placed shot had sent Engineer to parts unknown.

BLU had peeled off at that point, needing to check the status of the man’s dispenser.

He somehow doubted that was the case.

Running at full speed, he made it to the body of the fallen Heavy-boy to ready his sapper. The large Demo-bot was standing in front of the power station, bomb raised above its head. He checked the time on his cloak. The pause to ready the sapper had allowed it to recharge fully, giving him nine seconds. 

More than enough time.

Activating the cloak, he sprinted out from behind the robot’s shell and made right for the Demo. The magnetic attachment kicked in, and the sapper slammed into the robot’s back with a satisfying clang. As the Demo-bot started to jerk and stutter, Spy backed away, his cloak falling as he retreated. 

His movement caught the eye of the second Heavy-bot that had been escorting the bomb. The lumbering machine turned, the muzzle of its minigun spinning up as it traced the rogue across the field. 

“Merde.”

“Get a haircut, trash cans!"” 

Out of nowhere a rocket slammed into the Heavy-bot’s chest, knocking the minigun off track and giving Spy time to re-cloak and slip away. Flickering across the field he saw the two Scouts and the BLU Soldier circling in from the other side of the power station. Soldier threw four new rockets into her launcher as she barreled towards the Heavy-bot. 

The Scouts were cutting left and right, weaving an erratic trail across the field. Behind them was another swarm of Scout-bots, metal bats swinging as they tried to nail down the two. 

Spy kept his eyes on the Demo-bot, ready to circle around if his sapper didn’t finish the job. The body of the robot was sparking, the whole contraption shaking where it stood. Finally, there was a burst of smoke and it crumpled to the ground, the bomb rolling loose from its hands gently rolling down the slight incline.

The damaged Heavy-bot seemed to notice, even after taking a second rocket from Soldier. It slowly turned and lumbered towards the bomb, dropping the minigun on the ground. 

“The bomb is loose!” Spy called out. 

The Scouts looked up at the call and quickly changed course. Doubling back over themselves, they lead the mass of Scout-bots racing towards the Heavy. The shambling robot didn’t stop, but started tearing into the mass of metal scrambling around its feet.

“A little help, Solly!” Scout yelled as she and Scout dashed away from the robots. 

With a laugh, Soldier sent her remaining three rockets sailing into the pile of robots. The force of the explosions tore into the Heavy-bot, sending it crashing to the ground, taking several of the Scout-bots with it. For the few that were left, the Scouts made a return pass, unloading scatterguns as they went.

“Shit, that was close.” Scout was breathing hard as he unloaded a final shot. “But this bomb’s not goin’ anywhere.”

“Guys, there’s another wave!” Miss Pauling’s voice came over the loudspeakers. “And it looks like they have a tank.”

***

The carrier loomed up before them. Standing a short distance from the massive treads, they just took in the sheer size of the thing. The Snipers’ description was suddenly feeling very understated.

Medic pressed the handle of the Vaccinator on, and the others felt the warm beam as he slowly started to charge the pack. 

“How long will that take?” Demo asked as she kept an eye on the open bay door at the front. There were flickers of movement as another wave of robots rumbled out towards the fort. 

“Not long.” Medic checked the meter. He’d been charging as they’d been walking and the meter was already at 75%. Just 25% more for a full Über. “We should get into position.”

Quickly checking that their way was clear, the four mercenaries rushed under the carrier. Demo pulled out the schematic and studied it. After a moment he looked up at the carrier’s undercarriage.

“There.” 

He pointed at a wide area that was covered by a reinforced steel plate. Demo nodded and pulled the rocket launcher off her back. She lay on her back, carefully considering her angle before sitting up and gestured for the rocket.

“One chance.” Demo loaded the rocket into the launcher. “Yer sure?”

“I’m on me arse asking for the bloody rocket.” She checked the load and lay back. “I’m sure.”

A crackling noise came from Medic’s pack and he checked the gauge. “I am fully charged.”

The other Medic knelt down next to Demo as she aimed the nozzle of her own Medi-Gun up at the target. “Everyone get close.” They gathered together, Demo slightly off to the side to give her room to fire as Medic deployed the shield above them. 

“On three!” Demo lined up her shot as Medic’s finger hovered over the ÜberCharge switch. 

“One!”

“Two!”

“THREE!”


	25. Chapter 25

As Miss Pauling watched the scene below her, she felt a cold sense of dread. Thick columns of black smoke rose up into the sky from piles of twisted metal wreckage. Flames licked at the small outbuildings, slowly creeping along the roofline and being wicked along by the wooden support bridges that connected them. She tapped her fingers nervously against the control panel for the intercom system. The robots were the primary danger, but if the fire wasn’t contained, it would eventually engulf the entire base.

The tank crept towards the gate at steady clip, surrounded by another squad of Heavy-bots. Smaller robots flanked the hulking brutes, but they looked different than the Scout-bots. She grabbed a pair of binoculars and focused in for a closer look. 

This was a new robot, darting along on a single wheel instead of legs from Heavy-bot to Heavy-bot. She leaned forward, pushing her glasses up and refocusing. Each of the small robots had a white flag trailing behind it like a tail… Or a coat.

“Seriously?” She grabbed the microphone. “Heavy-bots with Medic-bots!”

Down on the ground she saw the mercenaries scramble away from the powers station and making a beeline for the supply sheds. The Snipers shimmied down from their perches and she watched as they gathered around the dispenser, joining the Pyros and Engineer who were gathered around a still slumped Soldier next to the dispenser. 

They didn’t have much time to resupply before the next wave came. 

She quickly racked her brain, trying to think of anything that they could do to stop the tank. None of her assignments had ever had anything like this. This wasn’t disposing of bodies or sending cars off cliffs; this was a heavily armored vehicle that was flanked by literal Heavy artillery with their own on-field repair units and that was slowly using those massive treads to crawl over everything in its way.

The treads. 

That was it!

Miss Pauling grabbed her gun and rushed down the stairs, her footsteps echoing in the stairwell as she took them two at a time.

She needed to find the Heavies.

***

Spy felt Engineer lean into her.

The man hadn’t moved since his stumble; he just stood and looked at the ground. Likely a concussion. He needed a dispenser.  
She looked at the mass of metal in front of them and, for a moment, wondered if she had any hope of getting the damaged dispenser running before discarding the idea just as quickly. A sentry leg through the mechanism was probably more difficult to repair than a simple rewire job on a sapper.

“Come along, mon petit chou.” Careful to not move too quickly, she stepped to the side, gently pulling him along. His steps were uneven, but he didn’t resist her direction.

“Sorry ‘bout this.” 

She looked down as they slowly made their way to the door of the shed. Engineer’s hard hat and goggles hid most of his face from her, but she could hear the embarrassment in his voice. He was not a man accustomed to relying on others. 

Spy tisked. “You would do the same, oui? This is a little war. Injury is inescapable.”

Engineer grunted a response she decided to take as agreement as they reached the door. Spy looked out, scanning to find the others.

“Spy!” She turned around to see Miss Pauling running towards her. “I have an idea! Where are the Heavies?”

“I do not know, but a moment, I need your help with Engineer.”

Miss Pauling quickly came to a stop, her eyes quickly glancing over the slumping man before sweeping the room behind them. She gave Spy a nod and slipped her arm around him on the opposite side.

“The others are this way.” She jerked her head towards the sheds to their left. “There’s another dispenser still running.” Adjusting their hold on Engineer, they slowly started in the direction Miss Pauling had indicated. 

“It is quiet.” Spy whispered as they made their way across the yard. “What is coming?” She gave a wry smile as a look of surprise crossed the other woman’s face. “We have not won. Soldier would not be able to contain herself if that was the case.”

“A tank, more Heavy-bots and Medic-bots. Got any advice?”

“Destroy the Medic-bots first. Then the Heavy-bots. Then the tank.” Spy dipped as she quickly dropped to catch Engineer as he stumbled, sending the three of them staggering forward. “The tank probably has a bomb.”

“Gray likes bombs, doesn’t he?”

Spy did her best to shrug. “It’s quick, I suppose. Not the most elegant solution, but I can hardly argue with its effectiveness.”

“I guess. Ugh!” Miss Pauling resettled her grip on Engineer. “No offence Engie, but you’re not an easy guy to carry around.”

“None taken’, ma’m.” Engineer mumbled, his words slurring. 

Spy’s eyes narrowed and she pushed her pace as quickly as she could. 

They were part way across the field, when a low rumble reached their ears. “The tank!” Miss Pauling paled as the sight of the slow procession as it crossed the base perimeter. “Engie, we have to move.”

“Tryin’ mah best here…”

“Chut-chut.” Spy gave a gentle squeeze with the arm she had wrapped around Engineer. “We are almost there. Just a bit farther.” 

“What is wrong?”

Spy and Miss Pauling turned to see the Heavies jogging up behind them. “Engineer is injured. We need to get him to a dispenser.”

Heavy just nodded and picked up the smaller man, carefully holding him curled under one arm, Sasha gripped in the other. “We go now. Where is dispenser?”

“This way!” Miss Pauling pointed as she started running, the other following quickly behind.

The rest of the team looked up as they saw Spy and Miss Pauling with the Heavies and Engineer right behind them. 

“Aw, crap, Engie, man!” Scout hopped up, helping Heavy to sit Engineer down next to Soldier, who was slowly starting to make noises that were only slightly less intelligible than normal.

“Has everyone had time to resupply?” Miss Pauling looked around at each of the mercenaries. “Because there is a tank at our doorstep along with some nasty looking robots.”

“Da.” Heavy replied, hoisting Misha onto her hip. “We are ready. Bring on puny Heavies. We will break them.”

“Engineer’s sentry and dispenser?” Spy looked down at the mini-sentry that was pinging back and forth. “Or are we left with only this?”

Engineer shot him a glare from behind her dispenser. “”Only this’ my eye...” She muttered, earning a raised eyebrow from the rogue. 

“That is hardly a fully-functioning sentry, ‘mademoiselle.’” 

Engineer slammed her fist on the dispenser with a loud bang. “Let’s put you and it against that tank and see which one does more, ya snake-!”

“Del!” Spy stepped between her friend and her peer. Engineer scowled and turned her attention back to her gear as Spy turned back to the RED. “His sentry and dispenser are destroyed. What you see is what we have.”

Spy lit a cigarette. “Miss Pauling, what did you see from the observation tower?”

“The tank, six Heavy-bots, three Medic-bots. And…” She pointed back at the power station, “I have a way to stop the tank.”

***

“Three… Two… One! Cover yer arses!”

The carrier undercarriage burst into a flare of red as both Medics pulled the triggers on their Medi-Guns; the Vaccinator quickly deploying ÜberCharges across the team as the shield bloomed above them.

The force of the blast nearly knocked them to the ground, Demo bracing himself behind Medic as she struggled to hold up the shield. All around them fell molten debris, liquid Australium slipping off ÜberCharged skin.

“The charge is almost up!” Medic called as he watched his own meter.

“Pull back!” Demo yelled as he grabbed Medic by her jacket, his own counterpart scrambling up from the ground as the central core to the generator shifted above them. There was a loud groan, metal slowly bending towards it breaking point, and the sound of the entire structure shaking as they ran for the safety of the sunlight beyond the edge of the carrier. 

“Five seconds!”

Debris was falling all around them, random pieces of machinery slamming into the ground, causing them bob and weave while trying to stay within the protective rays of the Medi-Guns. Overhead they could hear explosions cascading through the carrier, one after another in a cacophonous symphony of destruction.

“Ahead!” Demo called out as she spied something on the edge of the light. “Robots!”

“Verdammt! Can nothing be simple?” Medic swung her Medi-Gun down as the shield dropped off. 

There was a crackling sound as the ÜberCharge ended. Medic took his position behind Demo as the Scot pulled around his grenade launcher. “Let ‘em come! I’ve been waitin’ to get my hands on one of these metal bassas!”

Demo gave a wild yell as he felt the warmth of Medic’s Overheal. A second cry joined his as Demo fell in beside him, her own Medic close behind.

"Kill 'em aall!"


	26. Chapter 26

Engineer felt something humming against his back. Groaning, he slowly opened his eyes, blinking in the bright sunlight. He wasn’t where he remembered being, which was slightly concerning. The last thing he remembered was staring at the twisted wreckage of his sentry and his legs shaking under him. Frowning, he tried to remember anything after that.

There was the faint recollection of moving somewhere, leaning against something strong but soft before everything turned into a haze. Slowly the familiar tingle of the Medi-Ray from the dispenser pushed away the fog, and Engineer was finally able to start getting his bearings. 

Standing in front of him was Spy, and just beyond her was his own Spy. Miss Pauling was just to their sides, and the Heavies were behind her. Leaning over on his side was Soldier. Who was also drooling.

Shoving the man off him, Engineer reached up to pull himself to his feet. As he did, Spy turned and smiled. 

“Ah, mon petit chou, you have finally decided to join us?”

He started to snipe back, when he saw that the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Yeah…” The word just hung there. He wasn’t sure what else to say as he vaguely remembered flashes of blue and light touches somewhere back in the haze.

“Good.” RED Spy blew a plume of smoke. “Soldier is still useless. We cannot afford to lose anyone else.” He turned to Miss Pauling. “You said you had an idea. If you would be so kind.”

“We have to hit it in its weakest point.That thing is completely armored. It’s only chance we have to stop it is to knock it off its treads.” Miss Pauling pointed to the payload cart tracks that ran past the power station. “The railway ties are solid. If we can get them into the wheel tracks, we might be able to get to jump the track.”

“That’s an awfully big ‘if’. Those sleepers aren’t going to be easy to move.” Sniper pointed out.

“I can get them loose.” Engineered grabbed her wrench. “But I’m someone else is gonna need to do the heavy lifting.”

“We can do.” Heavy rested Sasha next to the dispenser. He turned to the other mercenaries. “You will take care of robots?”

“You.” Spy turned to the Scouts and Pyros. “Draw the robots away from the tank. BLU Spy and I will take care of as many of the Heavy-bots as we can. That will be the chance the Heavies will have. ”

Sniper tossed her head back towards the nests behind the dispenser points. “Once they get the Medic-bots split off, we’ll take the shot. If we don’t get them down first, we’re only going to be treading water.”

Soldier snapped into a salute. “We will hold the line!” She grabbed her launcher and turned to face the oncoming robots. 

“Non. You stay here.” Soldier turned and glared at Spy.

“I will not stand by and allow the enemy to advance!”

“Soldier, we have wounded and a civilian on the field!” Spy snapped. “Watch Miss Pauling, Engineer and Soldier, and for the love of god, keep an eye on this dispenser.”

The BLU growled, but lowered the launcher, grabbing the shotgun that Engineer had left leaning against the outbuilding. 

The team broke, each rushing towards their own targets. As Spy slipped past Soldier, she lifted the woman’s helmet to one side. “Be on guard, mon ami. We may very well need the calvary.” Soldier grunted and pumped the shotgun.

She had her orders.

***

The Scouts quickly outpaced the others, rushing towards the oncoming tank at top speed, scatterguns ready.

“Go left!” Scout yelled as he tacked right, zig-zagging as he heard the miniguns starting to wind up. 

As the tank continued to lumber forward, the Heavy-bots peeled away, the white tails of the Medic-bots flapping behind them. Making a quick left, Scout dashed right into one of the Heavy-bots, unloading the scatter gun right into its chest. The hulking robot staggered back, the close range of the shot packing a solid punch despite its small size.

“Ha! How’d you like that, ya metal gorilla?”

“Don’t stop to brag!” Scout yelled from the other side of the tank. “Keep movin’!”

Suddenly, a blue glow illuminated the robot, and slowly the burns on its chest faded a the Medic-bot’s Medi-Gun caused the Australium casing to activate and reform. The small wheel beneath the bespectacled automaton creaked as it moved, repositioning itself behind the larger robot, that was spinning up its minigun.

Scout quickly backpedaled, the three Heavy-bots on his side of the tank picking up speed as they lumbered after him. “A little help here!”

Finally catching up, the Pyros split and each chased after a Scout as they sent bursts of flame into the air. The sudden assault grabbed the robots’ attention, giving Scout a chance to put more distance between them.

Across the tank, Scout dodged around her own set of Heavy-bots, attended by two Medic-bots. She feinted left, doing what she could to keep them from predicting her movements, waiting for the guns to start spinning up. When she heard the whirr of the barrel, she dashed to the side as a stream of bullets kicked up dust behind her. As the first Heavy-bot started to track her, Scout sped across the yard in a smooth arc before quickly doubling bac. The minigun barrel kept up behind her.

“That’s right, ya overgrown tin can.” She laughed as she hit the earth, hitting a textbook slide between the legs of the second Heavy-bot. Sparks flew above her as the minigun sliced through the robot’s thick torso, exposing wires and gears as it was shorn completely in half.

“Hey, not bad, Yankee!”

Scout looked over to see her counterpart ducking back behind another heavy, quickly reloading his gun. 

“One down, try to keep up Soxie!” 

“Hey! Watch yourself!” Scout shouted, causing her to spin to see a Heavy-bot bearing down on her.

“Woah!” Scout rolled out of the way as a giant metal fist slammed into the ground where she had been just moments before. 

There was a flicker of blue and the Heavy-bot started jerking. “Do not get overconfident now.” Spy pulled Scout to her feet. “There are still five more!”

***

Engineer slid to a stop as she started to pry the railway spiked from the ground. Behind her the Heavies looked around, grabbing part of the metal skeletons from the destroyed Demo-bot and digging them under the track.

“How many?” Heavy asked as she pressed down, the metal track groaning as it slowly deformed under the pressure.

“Two should do it.” Engineer tossed the nails aside. “We just need to get that thing slightly off-kilter and it’ll be as helpless as a turtle on it’s backside.”

The wail of miniguns sounded in the distance. “We must hurry.” Heavy wrapped his hands around the first tie and pulled. “Robots are fighting, but tank still moving.”

“What I wouldn’t give for a sledgehammer about now.” Engineer muttered as she started on the second tie. 

“No need.” Heavy pressed her lever against the track again. “You have Heavies.”

The second tie came loose quickly, and each Heavy grabbed one. “You get back to others.” Heavy directed Engineer. “We will take care of tank.”

***

“Damn those rotters are quick.” Sniper mumbled to himself as he tried to track the Medic-bots. It was almost as if the smaller robots were aware of their vulnerability; they kept ducking behind the Heavy-bots and the tank, bobbing and weaving almost as quickly as the Scout-bots had.

Slowly he exhaled.

**BLAM!**

His shot slammed into the Medic-bot, sending it skidding along on its wheel, but not to the ground.

As he looked through the scope, two blue eyes looked back up at him. The Medic-bot dropped the handle of its Medi-Gun and pulled something else out. Sniper squinted before almost throwing himself down as five needles lodged themselves in the wall behind him.

“Nasty little bugger…” He growled, getting back up and peered out the window. 

Down below, the Medic-Bot and one of the Heavy-bots had peeled away from the group and headed towards the nest.

And the dispenser.

“Shit.”

***

“Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes…” Soldier mumbled as he slowly started to shake his head. Miss Pauling knelt down next to him and lifted his helmet. The dispenser had done its work and his eyes started to flutter as the man slowly came around.

“Soldier, it’s Pauling. Are you okay?”

“Name, rank and serial number…”

“Sounds like he’s plenty fine to me.” Engineer looked over from his position near BLU’s mini-sentry. 

Keeping her eyes on the man in front of her, Miss Pauling snapped her fingers, trying to get his attention. “Soldier! Come on!”

BLU got up and knelt down by Miss Pauling. “On your feet, maggot! I will not be responsible for dragging your sorry behind across this battlefield!” She grabbed the RED by his collar and gave him a rough shake. “Do you understand me?”

“Sir, yes Sir.”

Soldier snapped out of his reverie, and shakily getting to his feet.

“You will not let the enemy force make headway into our territory!”

“Sir, yes Sir!”

“You will not disgrace that uniform! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?”

“SIR, YES SIR!”

“See? Plenty fine.” Engineer reloaded the mini-sentry. “Now we ought to get down there.”

“Oi! You got two comin’ up this way!” Sniper called down as he pointed down the field. “Medic and Heavy, and I may have pissed one of ‘em off!”

The sensor on the mini-sentry went off sending a spray of bullets into the approaching Heavy-bot. As soon as it staggered back, the Medic-bot’s Medi-Gun flared into life, pushing the the hulk forward.

“We have to get the Medic-bot!” Miss Pauling yelled as she fired her gun, doubting as she did that the small caliber was going to have any effect at all. 

“Miss Pauling get down!” Engineer hollered as he pushed the woman to the side as the minigun cut through the air. He pulled her around behind the dispenser. “I don’t have a clear shot!”

Suddenly a crack filled the air, and shards flew from the back of the Medic-bot’s head.

“I told ya, go for the eyes, RED.” Sniper called from her perch. 

“The Support is gone!” Soldier shoved the shotgun into her counterpart’s hands as she grabbed her rocket launcher and ran at the Heavy-bot with wild cry. “Time to show these sparkbags what meatbags can do!”

“Ooorah!” Soldier dashed after her, ready for payback.

As the minigun of the Heavy-bot spun back up, Soldier pointed her launcher down, sending herself up in the air. The muzzle tracked her, opening itself up to the Soldier still on the ground. 

“Divide and conquer!” Soldier yelled emptying six shots into the Heavy-bot’s face, sending the minigun spinning out of control. A hail of bullets perforated the outbuildings, sending Engineer and Miss Pauling ducking for cover. 

Hitting the ground with a grunt, Soldier pulled the launcher up and sent the last three rockets into the metal beast, dropping it to its knees.

“Target neutralized!”

“Ya’ll having fun without me?” Engineer ran out between the outbuildings, taking in the smoldering heap of robots in front of her.

“We are asserting ourselves over the robot menace!” Soldier barked, a smile on his face.

“And on that note.” Engineer collapsed the mini-sentry and handed it to the BLU. “We probably should mosey on down to join the party at the tank.”

***

Spy dodged around an arc of flame that spewed from the BLU Pyro’s flamethrower as it finished burning one of the Medic-bots into a pile of slag. His eyes darted up to the tank, which was starting to get worryingly close to the main base. Where were the Heavies?

“Spy! Behind you!” Scout called out as he ducked between the legs of one of the Heavy-bots.

Spy cut to the side, but not quickly enough to avoid the giant metal fist sailing towards him, sending him sprawling onto the ground. He cried out as a sharp pain shot through his arm, and pulled it to his body out of instinct. A warm liquid was seeping through his glove, and he felt the prick of what he knew was bone under his hand. 

Unfortunately, his Invis Watch was on the other arm.

A shadow loomed over him as the Heavy-bot approached.

Spy clumsily scrambled back, letting his broken arm hang by his side as he pulled his revolver from his jacket. Bringing the gun up, he unloaded it into the thing’s face as it strode closer, tossing it to the side when it started to hit empty chambers.

“Sentry going down!”

Skidding to a stop, Engineer threw down the mini-sentry, the small turret unloading a full barrage into the Heavy-bot, sending the hulk over backwards. 

“Not such a bad little thing now, is it?” She smirked down at the Spy before walking over to the still twitching robot.

“Be careful, it is still moving.” He cautioned.

Engineer looked back over her shoulder. “Seein’ as I wasn’t the one who just about got himself killed, I think I know what I’m doing.”

The woman bent over the robot’s figure and lowered her hand. Spy couldn’t see what she was doing, but heard a crunch and sparking as the giant robot fell still. Engineer stood back up and gave the robot a kick before walking back over to Spy kneeling down next to him.

“Nice compound fracture, you have there.”

“I am not in the habit of doing things halfway.”

“Damn, even gettin’ saved you’re a smug bastard.”

Spy sniffed. “Not at all. I’ll have you know my parents were legally wed when I was born.”

Engineer rolled her eyes. “Let’s get you back to the dispenser.”

“Non, the tank.”

“That you’re not gonna be able to do a damn thing about.” Engineer pointed behind Spy. “Anyway, the Heavies are here.”

***

“Kill 'em aall!"

The Demos’ battle cry rang out among the explosions that were rumbling above them. As the mercenaries neared the edge of the carrier, they saw a line of Scout-bots gathering. Pulling their grenade launchers around, they lobbed the explosives forward, aiming them with deadly precision. The force of the blasts sent the small robots flying, only to be replaced by another.

Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the entire carrier, bringing the entire central column the Australium reactor crashing down behind them. The shock wave from the explosion knocked the mercenaries forward, sending them sprawling into the sunlight.

Demo groaned as she looked above her, seeing the metallic faces of the Scout-bots staring down at her. 

“Damnit…”

She braced herself for the attack.

But it never came.

“They’re not moving.” Medic slowly got to his feet. “Their eyes are dead.”

Carefully, the others stood up, their keeping their eyes on the Scout-bots that surrounded them. When there was no sign of movement, he reached out and gave one a push, jumping back as it went crashing to the ground.

“We did it!” Medic laughed and grabbed Demo, pointing up at the transmitter tower as it slowly fell into the shell of the carrier. “We did it! Without the transmitter, without the power...”

“Aye.” Demo smiled.

***

“They’re not moving!” Miss Pauling stopped short of the field and just looked. Three Heavy-bots and one Medic-bot remained, but stood as still as statues.

Scout carefully crept up to one, giving it a swift kick before skipping back a few steps. “They musta gotten the carrier.” She smiled before pulling out her bat and giving it a good hard crack across the chest.

“The tank is still moving!” Soldier pointed up field, where the tank was still slowly approaching the main buildings of the RED compound. 

“It must be running a pre-programmed route!” Engineer shouted. “We need those ties.”

Moving with a quickness surprising for their size, the Heavies closed the distance between them and the tank. With a roar like twin bears, they jammed the ties into the wheel wells, straining to hold the massive ties as the teeth of the treads tore into them. Muscles strained as the wood started to splinter, the sharp edge of the treads cutting into them as the Russians were pulled along.

The tank started squealing horribly, the mechanism locking up as the wheels jammed up against the wood. Thick smoke started to escape through the vent at the front, as the whole thing started to shake wildly before there was a loud crack, and the tank fell silent.

A soft rumbling filled the air and they turned, watching the cascading explosions that were still spreading through the carrier.

Scout looked up at Heavy, placing her hand on the larger woman’s arm. “You think they’re okay?” 

Heavy nodded. She would know if something happened to her doctor.


	27. Chapter 27

Carefully avoiding the burning wreckage around him, Demo pulled himself up into the carrier and slowly started to make his way in as the others followed closely behind. Hot steam and thick black smoke limited his vision, and he inched forward with his hand against the wall.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Medic asked, ducking his head over a fallen pipe.

“The bridge.” Demo shouldered a hatch door open with a grunt. “Should be this way acordin’ to the schematic.”

“And what are you hoping to find?” 

“Not what. Who. This job isnna finished until I see Gray with me own eye.”

The mercenaries kept moving, slowly climbing through hatches and bulkheads as the massive tank shook around them. All around them were creaks and groans as the weakened structure shuddered around the gaping hole in its center. Eventually, Demo pushed open a large hatch that opened onto a massive bay.

“The stairway to the bridge is over there!” Demo called back over his shoulder, pointing across the bay. “We need to get across.”

Demo leaned over the railing, squinting to try and see farther in the flickering lights. “There’s a maintenance bridge.” She waved the others over and pointed to their left. “We can use that.”

They quickly moved onward and Demo lead the way onto the bridge, followed by the Medics and with his counterpart bringing up the rear. Making their way out on the walkway, the mercenaries looked down at the flaming wreckage of what was left of Gray Mann’s ambitions.

Scattered across the bay floor were the bodies of robots, some still twitching, others still entombed within metal capsules, never to wake. Large tanks had been blasted from their moorings by the explosions, smoke pouring out as oil and fuel burned within.

As they reached the other side of the walkway, another shudder passed through the hull. “This is going to fall apart around us.” Medic worried, tightening her hands around a nearby rail. 

“All the more reason to get goin’!” Demo urged from behind her. Medic frowned, but hurried to catch up with the men in front of her, who had opened the hatch that led to the bridge stairs.

Demo pulled the door closed behind them as the group made their way up the stairs. Unlike the rest of the carrier, the bridge was eerily silent. The lights overhead flickered in an erratic rhythm, and there was a red cast at the top from the late afternoon sun. Demo pulled a sticky bomb from his vest. These quarters were too tight for grenades, but he didn’t like the feeling of having nothing in his hands. Behind him he heard the sound of a bonesaw being pulled loose, and it brought him a little comfort. 

Medic could handle himself in a fight.

They approached the top of the stairs and looked out onto the bridge. Demo scanned the room, and held up his hand.

“I see someone.”

***

Miss Pauling waited outside Spy’s smoking room. She was dreading what she knew was coming as soon as the Frenchman finished getting his arm healed by the dispenser.

A phone call with the Administrator.

There was no way around it, it had to be done. She was the ultimate authority for anything that happened at 2Fort, and Spy had to make a report. And she had to try and explain why she stole a confidential file and beg to keep her job. Or at the very least beg to not be visited by a large man named Guido. Hugging the intelligence folder to her chest, she let her head drop back against the wall and closed her eyes.

“Hey, Miss Pauling?”

She glanced over and saw Scout looking at her. Sometime during the fight she’d lost her cap, leaving her hair hanging loose around her shoulders. 

“You okay?” Scout leaned back against the wall. “You look worried.”

Miss Pauling sighed and took a seat next to Scout. “Well, let’s just say that it’s never been a personal ambition to be on the Administrator’s bad side. I’ve seen what happens to people who are on her bad side.”

“Oh.” Scout bit her lip before giving her a smile. “Well, you could always start an exciting life of mercenary work. Like I said, the team would love to have someone like you.” 

She wrapped her hand around Miss Pauling’s and gave it a squeeze. A squeeze that was totally just between two friends standing in a hallway who were talking about something really heavy, and not at all because she totally did have a thing for a lady who wore her glasses slightly crooked.

Her heart skipped when she felt a gentle squeeze in return.

“Ah, Miss Pauling.” Spy turned the corner, gently working his newly healed arm. “Ready for our phone call?” 

Dropping Scout’s hand, Miss Pauling pushed off the wall as she held the folder tight. 

“Ready.”

As he opened the door, he cast a look over at Scout. The young woman caught him glaring at her and she quickly looked away. 

“Dare I ask?” He shut the door behind him.

“Girl talk.” Miss Pauling walked over to the desk and opened the panel that covered the phone. “Do you want to dial or should I?”

Spy just raised an eyebrow and picked up the phone.

“I assume that by calling me you have good news to report.”

“We are all alive.”

“A happy bonus. What about my base?”

“We have most of the fires extinguished and have acquired two new bombs.”

“And my assistant?”

Spy flicked a switch and set down the handset. “Miss Pauling can speak for herself.”

“A… Administrator, I-”

“You have my file, I presume?”

“Yes, ma’m.” She lay the folder on the desk. “And I know you’re mad, but there was just no way that-”

“Miss Pauling!” The Administrator’s sharp voice cut the younger women off. “That file is the result of ten years of intelligence gathering from across the globe. It makes up the sum whole of all of the information that I have on Gray Mann.”

“Yes, ma’m, but-”

“AND if I had not intended for you to take it, I wouldn’t have told you to return it to the records room.”

“Wait… What?”

The eye roll from the Administrator was almost audible. 

“I discovered some time ago that my offices had been bugged by Gray. Once he heard your report on our extra-dimensional visitors I knew it was only a matter of time before he would act to try and grab any advantage that might allow him to advance his plans.”

“The Engineers. They were trying to reverse what they had done to bring them here. He wanted the teleporter information!” Miss Pauling leaned on the desk, kicking herself for not figuring it out sooner.

“If he had access to a world where he had already executed his plan, there would have been no stopping him. So I left the file open for you to take, and I have no doubt that the information proved to be of some use today.”

Spy leaned in over the speaker. “Mann’s carrier has been disabled, Administrator. I will provide a supplemental report when Medic and Demo return.”

“Very good, Spy. Now I suppose you all have earned a little rest. Secure those bombs and then consider yourselves on furlough for the next two days.”

“Thank you, Administrator.”

“Now if there is nothing else…”

“Administrator, wait!”

“Yes, Miss Pauling?”

Miss Pauling took a deep breath. “How did you know I would take the folder?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. 

“Miss Pauling, you are a very admirable assistant, but you do suffer from a certain surplus of conscience and an inordinate fondness for this team.”

“Ah. Right.” Miss Pauling deflated a little. 

“Good afternoon, Administrator.” Spy ended the call and looked up at Miss Pauling. “I would say that went well.”

“I’m glad you think so. I’m still trying to figure out if I was insulted or not.”

Spy gave an amused chuckle. “Be thankful she simply knows how to use you to our advantage.”

“Right.” Miss Pauling walked to the door, leaving the intelligence on the desk. “Later Spy.” 

As she closed the door behind her, she saw Scout still leaned up against the wall. “So you still have a job, or do we get to take you on the lam?” 

She gave the mercenary a shrug. “Still employed.” 

Scout’s face fell, and she quickly looked away. 

“Oh. Good.” 

“Scout?”

“What?” Scout turned, but didn’t meet her eyes. “You get to keep your job, that’s a good thing, right?”

No, it was very not a good thing. They were going to have to leave, and she was going to have to stay in the middle of this hicksville backwoods town. She shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up, shouldn’t have started thinking about the possibilities because this sort of thing always happened. She just needed to get away and-

“Scout, wait!”

Miss Pauling reached out and grabbed Scout’s hands in her own. She felt the calloused fingertips as they rested on her palms, lightly trembling, and gently brushed her thumbs over the wraps that covered Scout’s hands and wrists. 

Damn, she wished that she was better at this. 

Scout swallowed. “Miss Pauling, I… Can I kiss you?”

Well, there was always the direct route.

“I mean, if not…” Scout started to pull away as Miss Pauling tightened her grip, keeping her there. 

“Please do.”

She reached up, brushing Scout’s long brown hair back as she leaned in, lightly pressing her lips to Scout’s. They were so different than the soft painted lips of the other girls she’d kissed before; rough and dry from hours spent fighting under the hot New Mexico sun. Flowery perfume replaced by the smell of gunpowder and sweat, and instead of coquettish smiles she received a nervous grin as they pulled apart.

It was nice.

“Thank you.” Scout murmured.

“About bloody time!”

They jumped, hands jerking to their sides. Sniper laughed as she approached the two. 

“Sniper!”

“Oi, don’t stop on my account, Roo. You two looked like you were having a cracker of a time.” She clapped Scout on the shoulder. “I just down here to make sure Spy knows that the Demos and Medics are on their way back.”

“They’re back?” Miss Pauling smoothed out her skirt, shifting back into her professional mode. 

“Almost. Caught ‘em in me scope. Should be here in about ten minutes.” Sniper banged on the door to Spy’s smoking room. “Ya hear that, Spook? Ten minutes!”

Miss Pauling turned back to Scout. “Duty calls.”

“Yeah, I know.” 

She pressed a quick kiss to Scout’s cheek. “We’ll talk later. I want to try that again.”


	28. Chapter 28

**BLAM!**

The rocket slammed into the Heavy-bot’s chest, sending it backwards over the Medic-bot that was spread across the ground.

“HA! Not so tough without your giant bomb tank, are you, tin can?” Soldier laughed as BLU lodged her entrenching tool into the robot’s neck, neatly splitting it from its body.

Engineer just shook his head. “Damn shame.”

Behind him he heard the flick of a lighter, and wondered when he’d become so comfortable with the idea of a BLU Spy behind him. No way that was ever going to come back to bite him in the ass.

“You do not pity them, I hope.” Spy stopped beside him as she blew out a cloud of smoke into the air.

“Nah.” Engineer crossed his arms. “Just hate seeing a perfectly good machine being torn to bits. They’re mean sons-of-bitches, but I can admire good work when I see it. ”

“Spoken like an engineer.” Spy chuckled. “I am sure there will enough left over for you to tinker with when the Soldiers are finished having their fun.”

“I just want one of those legs intact. Figure that out, and I’d never have to break down a sentry in the middle of a firefight again.”

“Maybe little gun would be better for little man.” Heavy clapped a hand on Engineer’s shoulder as she joined them. Spy stifled a laugh as Engineer scowled. “What?” The Russian put on a look of mock-innocence. “Would be like Del’s. Easy to use.”

Throwing up his hands, Engineer let out an exaggerated sigh. “I get it! I’m short!”

“Oh, do not tease him, Sasha.” Spy admonished the giant woman as she wrapped her arm around Engineer’s shoulders. “Build your battle sentries, mon petit chou. Send them marching in, and you will render the Offensive classes obsolete!”

“Hey!” They looked up to see Sniper holding her rifle up and looking out past the fort perimeter. “There’s someone coming this way!”

“Can you see who it is?” Spy called up as Sniper adjusted the view on her scope. 

“It’s the Medics and Demos!”

***

The smouldering walls surrounding 2Fort had never looked so good. Despite their fatigue, the four mercenaries quickened their steps as they descended the low hills coming and approached the gates.

As they approached, they saw the others coming to greet them. Heavy swept Medic into a bear hug, completely lifting the smaller woman off the ground as she did.

“Lyubov moya.” 

Medic smiled as she nuzzled the crook of Heavy’s neck. “I missed you too, Schatz.”

“Ya’ll missed all the fun.” Engineer ambled up, Spy following closely behind. 

“We had a time of our own, boyo!” Demo flashed him a grin. “Not everyday you get to take out a monster of a beastie like that.”

“And ye should have seen it! It was bloody marvelous!” Demo came up on Engineer’s other side and gave the man a swat on the back.

“Well, at any rate, ya’ll stopped the robots and we stopped the tank.” Engineer smiled. 

Medic looked around the field, taking in the recently extinguished outbuildings, torn up payload track and the overturned tank near the main building. “It certainly looks like you all kept busy.”

“That we did.” Spy walked down the path from the central compound. “And we have one final piece of business to conclude before we can rest. We need to have a talk with the Administrator.”

***

Much to Spy’s annoyance, the entire team was now gathered in his smoking room. After hearing that Gray was still at large, everyone wanted to hear from the Administrator what would come next.

“These calls are starting to become a habit, Spy.”

The Administrator’s voice crackled as it came over the speaker.

“I did promise a report when Demo and Medic returned.”

“So you did. Well, let’s have it.”

Spy looked over at Demo and nodded. “Good evenin’ m’am.”

“Demoman, good to hear you sober.”

“Enjoy it, m’am, ‘cause I don’t plan on bein’ so for long.”

“Your report?”

“The carrier’s destroyed. Ye’ve got a lovely new scrapyard just over the hills. But Gray wasn’t there. He had some fancy robot mannin’ the operation from the bridge.”

For a moment there was silence. Then the speaker crackled back to life. “No, I suppose he wouldn’t be.”

Spy raised an eyebrow as he looked at the speaker. “You mean you knew he would not be there?”

“I suspected. Gray has not lived as long as he has by being a fool.” The Administrator replied. “The robot you found on the bridge was no doubt being controlled by him remotely.”

Scout crossed her arms and gave Spy a nervous look. “So… We’re right back to square one? Havin’ to look over our shoulders for killer robots?” 

“Not quite. Your actions today have undoubtedly left him in a weakened position. I’m sure you all have gone through that folder enough to know that it took him many years to acquire what he has.” 

Spy flipped open the file on his desk. “Over ten. He was working with someone called ‘W’.”

“Correct. And he will likely go back this ‘W’ to start again.”

“So no problem, then.” Scout sat himself in one of the wing backed chairs further into the room. “We did it once, we’ll do it again. Guy’s as good as gone.”

“Not if you care to keep your job. I did not hire the nine of you to go gallivanting around the world after a gray ghost.” The Administrator barked. “However…”

She fell quiet, the only sound coming from the speaker was a faint tapping. 

“However, Gray cannot be allowed to rebuild.”

Spy rested herself on the edge of the desk. “Then may I make a suggestion?”

“I presume I am speaking with Spy?”

“Enchanté.”

“And what would your suggestion be?”

“You currently have eighteen highly trained mercenaries at this base.” Spy pulled out a cigarette and her lighter. “Nine, of course, must be here. That leaves you with the other nine. My ladies and I currently have no contractual obligations.” She lit her cigarette and took a slow pull. “I would trust that our performance today was an adequate demonstration?” 

“You are offering your services?”

“You will not find a band of mercenaries more equipped to deal with what Gray may yet have in store.”

“Terms?”

“Standard. Plus travel.”

There was a sound almost like a laugh through the speaker. 

“You make an interesting offer. Give me a few days, I have some things I will need to review before I can make a decision. I will let Miss Pauling know when I have your answer.”

***

The common room was quieter than normal, but the atmosphere was relaxed.

“And that’s how ye finish a bottle proper!” Demo slammed down the empty bottle of Scrumpy in front of Soldier as the Snipers grinned over their own beers as the mercenaries finally allowed themselves to unwind after the day’s battle.

“I hope ye’ took time to actually enjoy that.” Demo called over Soldier’s shoulder as the two women slowly swayed in time with an old big band standard playing on the radio. “I had to bribe Medic with a kidney in order to get that for ye!”

“It was an even trade.” Medic called from the corner, where he was currently engaged in being beaten quite soundly in a game of chess by Heavy. “And I would like to remind you that I offered to throw in a bison kidney as well!”

Scout and Miss Pauling were curled up on the beat up loveseat that sat in front of the fireplace. The Pyros sat as their feet, watching as Balloonicorn and Balloonasaurus rested next to each other in front of the roaring flames. 

It was a beautiful thing, love. And fire.

Scout turned to look at Miss Pauling. “So, if this whole thing that Spy talked about, workin’ for the Administrator...”

“You’d have a job. A chance to build a life here.”

“Yeah, but…”

“But?”

“But you’d be here.” Her long fingers played in her ponytail, as she couldn’t quite bring herself to meet Miss Pauling’s eyes.

Miss Pauling smiled and reached over, gently pulling Scout towards her. “Come here, you.” She tugged until she had Scout stretched out on the loveseat, head in her lap. “Your hair’s a mess.”

“Yeah, usually is. Some days I think about just cuttin’ it all off. Not like John, but maybe like like Sasha…”

“Don’t. You have nice hair.” Miss Pauling pulled out the rubber band that Scout had used to tie her hair back and started to ease the tangles out. “It looks pretty when it’s down.”

“Thanks. Ma always liked it, too. It’s the only reason I haven’t cut it.”

“You miss her, don’t you?”

Scout was quiet, glad that the Pyros were enthralled by the fire in front of them. She really didn’t want them to see the tears that she felt at the corners of her eyes. “Yeah.”

Miss Pauling’s hands felt nice as they slowly worked their way through her hair. The light touch as her fingertips brushed against her head and neck made her want to close her eyes and just fall asleep right there. A wonderful moment of peace that she had so rarely.

Miss Pauling started to braid a random bunch of hair, just to give her hands something to do. “You know, I do have access to some pretty nice technology. Just because you might be halfway around the world doesn’t mean you can’t see me.”

Scout turned her head to look up into green eyes. “No?”

“I have a telecom in my room. Private channel. And I know that Engie replaced the one in the bread truck recently. I saw the requisition form myself. I can’t build a sentry robot, but I can probably get that to work.”

“So, this, you and me?”

“I want to try.” Miss Pauling leaned over and planted a kiss on Scout’s forehead. “I don’t meet many women like you.”


	29. Chapter 29

Medic carefully packed the small doll away at the back of the small wooden crate. Once her hand pulled away, Aemilia trotted in as her little head bobbed and poked at the lining on the bottom of her temporary home. After a few minutes of exploring, the dove cooed happily as she settled down next to the pocket Heavy.

“//And you’re sure that you don’t mind?//”

“//Not at all.//” Medic turned away from the dovecote with a sulking Archimedes in his hands. “//I do have the real thing after all.//”

“//Has he figured out that nickname yet?//”

“//It’s not so much that he understands what I’m saying, but rather the tone in which it’s being said.//” Medic almost giggled.

“Doktor, you are making me nervous.”

They turned to the front of the infirmary where the Heavies stood, waiting for the doctors to finish packing. Both wore expressions of concern on their faces.

Medic closed the crate’s door, taking care not to jostle the little Jocobin inside. “Will your little one be alright? The poor thing is pouting.” 

Archimedes gave a disgruntled squawk and flapped off to the rafters as the doctors watched. “A little heartache is all. He will be fine.” Medic looked up at the bird. “You’re being overly dramatic, Archimedes! It is very unbecoming!” Shaking his head, he picked up the other doctor’s Medi-Pack and set it down by Misha, which had been crated for transport.

“Doktors are finished?” Heavy asked as Medic put a few last things in order.

“You know,” Medic paused as he closed the dovecote, “I am actually going to miss this.” He turned to look at his counterpart, who had joined her Heavy near the door. “It has been nice having people who… are sympathetic.”

“When your world is coming to an end, it puts things in perspective.” Medic answered as she gave Heavy’s hand a squeeze. “You realize what is important and how little everything else really matters.”

“I would die for Doktor, for my Inge. And you would for yours.” Heavy looked at the men. “Your team, they understand, I think.”

***

“Purple? You have GOT to be kidding me.”

Spy rolled her eyes as she shoved the shirt into Scout’s hands as Scout shoved it right back.

“I am not wearin’ this!”

“And what is wrong with the color?”

“Like I said, it’s purple.” Scout crossed her arms and glared at Spy. “It’s all… girly.”

“It is also the color that has been designated to our team by the Administrator.” Spy tossed the garment at Scout. “And I should mention that it was Miss Pauling who made the final selections.”

Scout’s shoulders slumped as she caught the shirt. “Seriously? You’re gonna pull that on me? I’m not even 100% sure we’re actually dating yet!” Still, she pulled off her old RED shirt and pulled on the new uniform.

At least it was dark purple.

Spy shook her head as she left the room. Miss Pauling; the poor woman really had no idea what she was getting herself into.

With a quick flick of her lighter, Spy lit a cigarette. There were only a few left in the pack and she wondered if she had time to test the security of RED Spy’s smoking room to replenish her stock on the way out. 

She decided not to tempt fate. Leaving the man on good terms would be for the best. 

Walking down the halls, she went over her mental checklist one final time. So far she had distributed the new uniforms for their cover as Pacific Petroleum Laboratories - PPL, and taken delivery of the two vehicles that they would use as a temporary base once they had a lead on Gray. The contracts had been handed out and signed, with Miss Pauling promising the initial payments to be made on the first of the month.

And that was it, there was nothing left to do.

Spy always felt a little out of sorts when there was no immediate task but still time left in the day, and eventually her feet took her to the workshop. She leaned up against the door frame, watching the two Engineers hunched over the piles of robot parts that they had spent all day hauling back from the field. 

They were like children at Smissmas, opening up the metal wrapping and pulling out the industrial secrets from inside. Every so often one would grab the attention of the other to point out a particularly interesting widget and hard hats would come together as they muddled out its purpose. It was adorable, really.

“Still playing with your toys?”

She smiled as both Engineers jumped.

“Tarnation, girl! You’ll give me a heart attack one of these days.” Engineer pulled a rag out of her back pocket as she cleaned off her hand. “What’s got you skulking around?”

“A lack of anything interesting.” Spy walked down the stairs and over to the tarp where the remains of what looked to be a Demo-bot were being carefully sorted. “Although that would appear to be the case here as well.”

“Some people just don’t have any appreciation for good engineering.” 

“Not when it tries to kill me.” Spy looked down at the oil stains on the Engineer's shirt and sighed. “Del, already?”

Engineer blushed as she shoved the rag back in her pocket. “It’s the whole purpose of a uniform, ain’t it?”

“But really, not even a day?”

“Fine, fine! I’ll get it clean.” Engineer threw up her hands and headed towards the door. “But don’t you go rootin’ around in that Medic-bot until I get back!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Engineer chuckled as he got up off his knees. 

Spy watched him as he puttered around the workshop, noting the slight stiffness in his posture as he worked, and the hint of red that creeped up his neck as he realized what she was doing. 

“So, ah, I don’t think I ever gave you a proper thank you for savin’ my skin the other day.”

Spy waved her cigarette. “It was nothing. You would have done the same, no?”

“Sure, sure.” He answered quickly, picking up a few of the tools that had been strewn across the floor.

A silence fell over the workshop as a million thoughts ran though Spy’s mind. Logistics, liabilities, realities of their world. And then she dropped the cigarette on the concrete floor and rubbed it out with her shoe. 

“Engineer.”

He stood up when he heard his name, and turned around to face her. “Yeah?”

Spy took a few steps forward, standing close enough that Engineer almost had to look up at her. “I find that I rather like you.” She reached out and barely touched the tips of her fingers to his cheek. She smiled as he sucked in a breath, gently slipping her fingers under his chin and tilting his head up so that she could see his eyes through his goggles.

They were blue, she recalled.

Leaning in, she lightly pressed her lips to his. His body stiffened in surprise, but as Spy started to pull away, his hand cupped the back of her head and pulled her back. A strong arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close. As much as the man was teased for his height, he was still strongly built and oh, so wonderfully warm.

Spy felt heat in her cheeks as they parted, Engineer’s hand slowly slipping from the back of her mask. Her eyes fluttered open to see a shy smile across the Texan’s face. 

“You ain’t too bad yourself, Spook.”

***

Miss Pauling settled down next to Scout on the mattress as the other woman looked at the box that had been dropped in her lap.

“Go ahead, open it.”

Scout lifted the lid and looked inside. Reaching in, she pulled out a smaller box, about six inches square, with a screen covering most of one of the sides. On the top was a small antenna that reminded Scout of the Wrangler that Engineer had been working on. 

“This some of that high-speed tech you were talking about.”

Miss Pauling nodded, a smile crossing her face. “Started out as a Mann Co. vehicle comm, but a few modifications and it’s portable. Australium battery, so it’ll last for years and I think if you adjust the knob a little you can actually get some over the air TV on it if you catch the signal just right.”

“And it won’t explode on me?”

“I said it started life as a Mann Co. product. I think I’ve made enough modifications that it should be fairly stable.” She leaned up against Scout. “Should be strong enough to broadcast anywhere on the planet.”

“Wicked.” Scout grinned. “Thanks.”

“It’s a selfish gift. Means I get to see you no matter where you are.”

“So, you can’t get rid of me, is what you’re sayin’.”

“Nope. And I wouldn’t want to, anyway.”


End file.
